Sonic and the Lords of Pandemonium
by sonicfan1990
Summary: When a new evil manifests itself in Blaze's world, she asks Sonic and his friends for assistance. Of course, the heroes all agree to help their friend in her time of need. However, they may be in way over their heads when they come face to face with the new villains, who are very much gods. Can they prevail? Rated T for safety only (Chapter 25 - Blaze's BOSS battle is up).
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all, I'm back in business, if anyone still remembers me. Just want to tell you all that I've been somewhat busy as of late, so I haven't been able to complete this new story yet. Good news is I'm half way through already, so it shouldn't take too long. Anyway, this is the first chapter for the events that will come later. Hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to drop a few lines. Thank you for your time. **

* * *

Prologue to darkness

_(Continuing from the Epilogue of Brothers' fight.) _

_Recap:_

_The day after the event of the One-day War and the destruction of Eggman's Egg Citadel, Sonic and Tails had made up and decided to throw a party to celebrate their latest victory. However, the party was abruptly canceled when an unexpected guest arrived, all wounded and beat up, in the form of Blaze the Cat, Sonic's comrade and the guardian princess of the Sol Emeralds in her dimension. The cat explained that her world and all worlds were in peril from an unknown group that called themselves 'The Lords of Pandemonium'. _

_End of Recap._

"The Lords of Pandemonium?" asked Sonic.

"Yes, I have never seen them before, but I have heard stories," replied Blaze as she tried to remember the events that had led to her sudden appearance, "They possess powers that I cannot fathom, much less counteract."

"Why don't you explain everything from the beginning so that we have a clearer picture of what happened?" suggested Tails as he handed Blaze a cool glass of water, which the princess gratefully accepted.

After drinking a few sips and calming her restless nerves, Blaze looked at everyone in the room and began to tell them what had transpired in her dimension a while ago.

"It began as just another peaceful day in our kingdom…"

Blaze's story

It was a beautiful day in the Sol Dimension, and everyone was minding their own business as usual.

Blaze, bored of being cooped up inside the confine of her castle, decided to take a stroll to town and enjoyed the peace that the kingdom was experiencing.

After the crisis of the stolen Jeweled Scepter, the world enjoyed a long period of peace. Although Eggman Nega, Blaze's most hated enemy, sometimes showed up and stirred up trouble, Blaze always managed to foil his plans and saved the day.

That day, when Blaze was enjoying her walk, she suddenly felt a strange sensation coursing through her body. Due to her many years of protecting the Sol Emeralds, she was capable of sensing things normal people could not sense, much less comprehend.

"What…" said Blaze as the sensation got stronger and stronger, which caused her quite a headache, "What is this feeling? It's almost…ominous."

Blaze took a brief moment for her splitting headache to somewhat subside. Once it did, the lavender cat whipped around and quickly made a beeline back to her castle.

Completely disregarding all forms of manners, Blaze broke straight into the treasury, where the sacred Sol Emeralds were being safely guarded and kept, to make sure that everything was fine.

When she opened the door, she was met with a horrific sight. The Sol Emeralds were levitating in the air, and there was an ominous dark violet aura surrounding each of them. Quickly overcoming her initial shock, Blaze used her powers to calm the Emeralds down.

However, when Blaze used her soothing powers on the sacred gems, she was blown back by a mysterious aura coming from the very things she was trying to protect. The dark aura hit Blaze directly and sent her flying out of the room, demolishing the giant gates leading to the chamber.

The guards heard the loud noise and came down to check. To their horror, they saw the royal princess on the ground, squirming and groaning in pain.

"Your…your highness," stammered one of the guards as he looked at the horrifying scene, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Blaze, trying to appear strong in front of her loyal subjects, "You need to get out of here immediately. Something is wrong with the Sol Emeralds, and I have to find out what."

"But, your highness," said another guard as he helped Blaze get up on her feet, "You are badly injured. You require medical attention immediately."

"I **am** fine," growled Blaze angrily, "Now let go of me. I have my duty as the guardian of the Sol Emeralds to carry out. All of you, leave this place at once."

The guards looked at each other and at Blaze perplexedly. Blaze knew full well and respected the extent of their loyalty and sense responsibility toward her, but she couldn't risk having any of them get hurt, especially when she had no idea what was making the Emeralds glow ominously like that.

Blaze turned her head around and looked at the guards with the sternest face she could work up.

"Get out of the chamber right now! That's an order."

The guards once again looked at each other hesitantly. They didn't want to leave, but they couldn't disobey a direct order from a member of the royal family. In the end, the guards decided to leave the room, albeit reluctantly.

Blaze sighed in relief now that her subjects were out of harm's way, but she quickly turned her attention back to the task at hand. Protecting the Sol Emeralds was her sacred duty, and thus it was upon her to purge whatever evil was plaguing the gemstones.

Blaze focused her powers and used her flames as a means to purify the ominous aura eclipsing the Emeralds. She used everything she had, but still, the strange aura refused to disappear. If anything, the mysterious aura simply grew stronger and stronger as it completely shadowed the entirety of the Sol Emeralds.

"What is happening?" asked Blaze in bewilderment, "I have never seen anything like this happen to the Sol Emeralds before."

Quickly shrugging off her doubts, Blaze stormed into the chamber and once again focused entirely on the task of purifying whatever it was that was corrupting the scared jewels.

"_The Light shines bright as Darkness dies_

_To protect all that's just and right_

_Let those who turn to Evil's wight_

_Be cleansed by Sol's brilliant might."_

Blazed chanted her secret spell of the guardians to help strengthen her powers and influence over the Sol Emeralds (Something I made up for fun, also, the spell may be subject to change).

At first, it seemed to work as the darkness slowly dissipated, revealing the usual brilliance the Sol Emeralds normally possessed. Blaze smiled happily and continued to purify the remaining darkness.

However, the darkness suddenly grew once again, completely dominating the room the princess was in. A huge beam of pure darkness shot from one of the Emeralds and once again hit Blaze directly, sending the feline back a few feet.

When the guardian princess tried wobbly to get back on her feet, she picked up strange voices whispering to her in the dark chamber.

"_Darkness grows strong as all Light dies_

_To claim men's hearts and their demise_

_Let those who live, bathed in Sol's Light_

_Be swayed by Evil's supreme might."_

The wicked chanting voices continued to sound in Blaze's ears as she tried to locate their owners. The spell that was being said was a completely twisted version of the guardian's. Soon, she noticed that the voices were coming from the Sol Emeralds themselves, a fact that shocked her immensely.

Before Blaze could react, the entire room shook vigorously, causing her to lose balance. At that time, the ominous aura surrounding the Emeralds gathered in one place and began to merge.

Soon, the lighting of the treasury returned to normal, but the number of individuals inside had changed dramatically.

In front of the shocked and dumbfounded princess were seven cloaked characters of dubious and questionable nature and motive. Each of them wore robes of different colors, which precisely corresponded with the colors of the sacred gems. The seven enigmas took their time to look around and at each other briefly before directing their cold gazes toward the lone guardian princess.

Due to their hoods, Blaze couldn't see their faces.

"You must be Blaze the cat," said the one in the middle, whose robe was of a shade of gray, with a soft, and somewhat suave, tone, "The current guardian of the Sol Emeralds."

"What if I am? State your purpose, creatures."

"For a guardian, you have quite a temper I must say. I assume that your temperament has, more than once, gotten you into awkward, or should I say unfortunate mishaps with other people around you…perhaps even with people that are not even of this world" replied the same individual in a mocking tone.

Blaze could only stare in shock as she listened to the cloaked creature's words. "How could they know about…"

"Oh, we know," said a woman's voice among the group, whose owner was the one in purple right next to the first being, "We have been watching you for a really long time, your royal highness. How long has it been now? Probably ever since you were welcome into this world."

Once again, Blaze was shocked speechless.

"Who…What are you? Why are you here?" asked Blaze as she desperately tried to regain herself.

"Regarding the 'Who'," said the first individual, "That will be answered in due time. As for 'Why', do excuse my impoliteness your highness, but I must answer that with another question of my own."

"What is it?"

"Have you ever heard about the legends of the day when all living things, be it organic or inorganic, will cease to exist, the day that many great minds and prophets once referred to as The Great Cataclysm in the distant past?"

"I have, but it's nothing but a myth. There is absolutely no way the Sol Emeralds, which grant us life and protection, would be the instruments of our demise. I protect the Emeralds, and I know that they are pure in every possible way."

There was a moment of silence in the room after Blaze had said that. All of the sudden, all seven cloaked figures laughed like they had gone insane. There was something in the laughter that completely paralyzed and petrified the normally confident and brave princess.

"What's so funny?" asked Blaze indignantly as she completely discarded her usual formal speech pattern.

"Nothing at all," said the female enigma once again, "We just had the same thought regarding the saying: 'Ignorance is bliss', that's all."

Some of the figures in the back continued to laugh, particularly the ones in the cyan, red and yellow robes. Blaze was getting tired of their games. However, before she could open her mouth, the cloaked man in gray, who seemed to be the leader, spoke again.

"Within every living creature, no matter how pure and noble, exists darkness, your highness. The Sol Emeralds are no exception."

At this comment, Blaze shook visibly.

"What do you…Does that mean you came from…"

"Inside the Emeralds, bingo, your fuzziness, heh heh heh. Took you long enough to figure out something so simple. Somebody throw her a ball, heh heh" said the one in a yellow robe with a mocking and sadistic tone that might very well suggest his nature.

"It's impossible. I vaguely remember hearing legends about seven malicious deities of destruction sealed within the Emeralds in ancient times, but I never think that is true."

"Well, it would serve you well to remember from now on that every legend has an origin, and so do relics and artifacts."

"Then that means, you are…" stammered Blaze as she tried to get her words out.

"The ones that were sealed millennia ago inside the Sol Emeralds, now resurrected to finish what we have started" said all seven figures in unison, "Soon, this world and all other worlds known or unknown to you shall succumb to our powers and be wiped out from existence forever."

"No, I will not let you do that, I will stop all of you right here, right now" yelled Blaze as she generated flames from her hands and shot them at the enigmas.

The cloaked deities, on the other hand, simply stood still and waited for the raging flames to reach them. Before the flames hit, the leader of the seven held out his hand and generated a shockwave so powerful that, not only did it extinguish Blaze's flames, it also sent Blaze flying straight into the wall behind her, effectively smashing it to bits.

"You honestly believe that you alone, with your limited skills and powers, can stop all seven of us? That is perhaps the most amusing thing I have ever heard in millennia. I do not know whether to address your tenacity as incredibly brave or disastrously idiotic," taunted the leader as he watched Blaze struggled to get back on her feet, anticipating an attack.

"Please rest your mind at ease, your highness. We are not going to kill you, at least not yet. We need a messenger to go out there and tell everything and everyone that their time is up, that the Great Cataclysm will soon be upon all."

Blaze stood up groggily and tried to generate more flames, but the shockwave had done a number on her, to the point that she could not even stand straight, much less defend herself.

"Tell them," said all seven, "The Lords of Pandemonium have returned from the darkness of the abyss. They will without a doubt trust the words of a member of the royal family more than a random passer-by. Until the end of this pitiful and rotten world comes to pass, do enjoy the remaining time you have left. Farewell, your highness."

With that, a huge portal of pure darkness appeared behind the cloaked figures, and they all disappeared through it, leaving the exhausted and wounded Blaze inside the room.

The princess, with her remaining strength, grabbed the almost lifeless Sol Emeralds on the ground and left the room shortly after the sudden departure of the seven menacing and mysterious deities.

Using the last ounce of strength she had left and the last remaining power within the sacred gems, Blaze opened a portal to Sonic's world, knowing that the hedgehog and his allies could be the only ones in the multiverse that could stand a chance against the deadly threats.

* * *

**Yes, I wrote the poems myself for added effect. It's just that Knuckles has his own spell for his Master Emeralds, so why shouldn't Blaze have her own incantation for her own gems? **

**Anyway, this is all for now. Things will get more exciting soon enough (hopefully). Thank you again for your time, everyone. **


	2. Chapter 2

**It's almost Christmas, and in Vietnam, it practically means final exams begin the week after (at least for university students). I'll probably take some time after putting this chapter up. Just an advance notice for people who read my stories. Well, without further ado, here's the new chapter.**

Chapter 1: New threats, new adventure

When Blaze was telling her story, no one in the room interrupted and listened intently to the cat's words. After Blaze had finished retelling the events that had led to her sudden appearance at Sonic's door, the residents inside the room looked at each other with shock clearly shown on their faces.

"So, Blaze," said Tails as he tried to break the ice and tension in the room, "What happened to the Sol Emeralds?"

The cat said nothing. Instead, she just held out her hands and summoned the sacred emeralds from the flames she created. In a burst of fire, seven Sol Emeralds appeared, but the sight once again sent the individuals inside the room into another awkward silence.

"What?" exclaimed Sonic in surprise as he gestured to the jewels in front of him, "Those are the Sol Emeralds? They are black. It's like they are…"

"Lifeless," said Blaze as she made the jewels disappear back to her dimension, "The situation is dire. Without the Sol Emeralds, my world is at stake. I took a great risk by travelling here by using up the remaining power of the Emeralds. Who knows what those monsters could be doing in my home world right now."

As the lavender cat spoke, she clenched her hands into tight fists and trembled visibly, much to the surprise of everyone inside the workshop. They had never seen Blaze act so helpless before, even when her world was in peril a while ago.

"Please Sonic, I need your help. I cannot face those monsters on my own."

"Say no more, Blaze. Of course we'll help you out, right guys?" said Sonic cheerfully as he looked at his friends. Everybody nodded their heads, with the exception of Shadow (but he was ready to help).

"Thank you," muttered the princess as she looked at her friends, "It is such bliss that I have such amazing friends like you."

"NO worry, Blaze," said Tails, "We'll get to your world immediately."

"Umm, but how we are going to that?" asked Amy as she raised quite a good point, "We don't have the Chaos Emeralds with us right now, except Shadow's emerald."

"No worry, Amy," replied the two-tailed fox confidently, "Remember when Sonic and I told you about our adventures in the Sol Dimension a while back?"

"Yeah, of course. Sonic stood me up that day" said Amy as she shot a deadly glare at Sonic with her hammer raised. Needles to say, said hedgehog was scared out of his wits and backed away slowly from the pink menace.

"Anyway," said Tails quickly in an attempt to spare Sonic a painful beat down by Amy, which the blue blur thanked him internally, "we can still use the SS Tornado EX inside my lab."

"Great idea, Tails" said Sonic as he patted his best friend on his shoulder, "But doesn't that thing need the entire set of the Chaos and the Sol Emeralds to work?"

"Actually, it still has some residual energy from its last voyage. It's only enough for one trip, but it should do the trick. Right now, we need to focus on stopping these new beings first. After that, I'll try to come up with a way to take us back from Blaze's world."

"Sounds good to me. Is that okay with you, Blaze?"

"Yes, it is. Thank you" said Blaze as she gleamed with joy and gratitude.

"Hey, that's what friends are for" said Sonic as he flashed the cat his trademark thump-up.

"But there is a tiny problem," said Tails timidly. He really hated to be the bearer of bad news, but it couldn't be helped, "The SS Tornado EX is only big enough to carry six people. We need to decide who goes and who stays. From what Blaze has just told us, we need all the help we can get if we want to stand a fighting chance against those guys."

"That's a problem alright," said Sonic as he looked at everyone in the room, "Me, Blaze and Tails are musts, so that leaves three seats left."

"I'll go," said Knuckles decisively.

"Shouldn't you be here to guard your Master Emerald, Knux?"

"Nah, An old friend of mine is in town. He'll keep an eye out for it while I'm away. I'll send him a message later."

"Who?"

"Mighty, of course. And he said he would bring Ray, Heavy and Bomb with him, so no worry. The Master Emerald is in good hands."

"Oh, really, Knucky," said Rouge as she walked up to the echidna, "Want me to test your new security for you?"

"Don't even go there, bat girl, or I'll…I'll…"

"You'll what?" asked the bat as she winked at the stammering guardian.

"Let's just say it's not going to be pretty after I finish with you."

"Now I'm _dying_ to find out, hon."

"You'll be **dying** for real if you get anywhere near my alter...or my island, bat girl."

"Ah, hello," said Tails as he tried to steer the focus of the conversation back to the main point, "Can we get back to the topic of who's leaving and who's staying?"

"Yeah, Me, Blaze, Tails, Knux. That leaves two more room, and like Tails said, we're going to need all the help we can get to mop the floor with these so-called gods."

"How about you Shadow?" asked Rouge as she turned to look at her teammate and fellow agent, "Want to take a vacation?"

"Hmph!" was all the dark hedgehog said. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again, "I suppose I can. There's nothing to do here at the moment anyway. Omega can handle every case while I'm gone."

"Great, that leaves one seat left" said Tails excitedly.

"I wish to join you in this treacherous journey, if that's okay with you" said a certain fuchsia chameleon in the room.

"Espio?" asked Sonic, Tails, Vector and Charmy in unison.

"Is there something wrong? I can handle myself in times of emergency, so you need not trouble yourself with my presence. I'll try my best not to stand in your way."

The room grew silent for a while, which slightly worried the ninja chameleon. After that while, Sonic looked at Espio and smirked.

"Okay, then it's considered. You'll come with us, if that's okay with Vector and Charmy."

"Nah, I'm cool. Esps needs to get his heads off our cases every once in a while, too" said Vector as he threw his giant hand over the chameleon's shoulder. Charmy flew to Espio's side and hugged him.

"Please be careful, Espio."

"I will. Thank you, Charmy" replied Espio, slightly touched that his teammates trust him. Before he could say another word of gratitude, however, the hyperactive bee beat him to the punch.

"Also, can you bring me back some souvenirs from that world? There must be some cool stuff there, right? Can you? Please, oh please say yes. Please please please, Epsio. Please."

"Alright, I'll try," said the chameleon as he sighed loudly, clearly annoyed at his childish teammate's pleading.

Blaze giggled quietly as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes. Nobody had ever acted casual in her presence before, except Marine the raccoon, so she felt relaxed and somewhat happy. Sonic took notice of the cat's giggle and smirked, glad that his friend was enjoying herself, despite the situation.

"Okay, so the people who'll be going are Blaze, me, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow and Espio" said Sonic.

"Yeah, the rest of you can stay here and try to locate the Chaos Emeralds as soon as you can," said Tails, "You can use Shadow's emerald to locate the others. We may need their help to get back from the other side."

"Leave that to us," said Amy enthusiastically as she accepted a Chaos Emerald from Shadow, "We'll get that done **ASAP**."

"Alright, now that's done, let's get to my lab so we can go to Blaze's world immediately."

With that, the six people left the party room and followed the two-tailed fox to his lab. Once there, Tails began to make the necessary preparations for the trip.

"Alright, everything is set," said Tails after a short while, "Hop on everyone."

The other five did just that and climbed onto the vessel.

"Sonic, I just want to say thank you for everything. I know you're taking a big risk coming to my world to help me, and I just…"

"Like I said, Blaze, it's no problem at all. That's what friends do. If you really want to thank me, you can treat me to a buffet of chilidogs when this is over."

"Yes, that can easily be arranged" said Blaze as she chuckled at her companion's crazy idea.

"Okay, all systems green. Time to take off. Buckle up, guys. This is going to get a bit bumpy."

The platform holding the SS Tornado EX lowered into the underground. Once the vessel touched the surface of the water, Tails began to accelerate and headed to the ocean, where they could cross dimension without fear of ramming into unsuspecting vessels.

Once the SS Tornado EX reached a clear area somewhere on the ocean, it began to lift from the surface and soon, the entire ship was engulfed in a blinding flash of light and disappeared completely.

**Alright, next time, trouble on the high seas in the the Sol Dimension. Stay tuned, mates. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I managed to finish editing this chapter faster than I had first anticipated, so I'll just put it up here for everyone to read.**

** Now, about this story: It contains all the elements of a game, i.e. gameplay and cutscenes, missions and levels/stages, bosses and even character select (We'll get there eventually). **

**Since I tend to write stories set in the game universe, I don't do romance (Sorry sonicxblazey), all of the characters are strictly friends (unless I want to write a new story about Sonic accidentally drinking a love potion XP).  
**

Chapter 2: Back to Sol Dimension

The SS Tornado EX reappeared a minute later in another place. There was water everywhere, so Tails and the others were worried whether they had managed to get to their destination or not.

The fox immediately pressed some buttons on the controls in an attempt to locate their current position on both the Sol Dimension and Sonic's world. Much to his, and everyone's, relief, the map clearly showed that they were in Blaze's world, and they were not very far from Southern Island, their destination.

"Alright, I have good news and bad news," said Tails as he turned to his friends, "Which would you like to know first?"

"Good first, **PLEASE**" replied Sonic as he frantically tried to get past Shadow and moved closer to the middle of the floating vessel amd away from the vast body of water around the boat, an act that clearly annoyed the dark hedgehog.

"Would you stay still, Faker? If you move again, I'll throw you into the ocean myself" said Shadow coolly, but seriousness could easily be traced in that tone, after all, when was the last time anybody heard Shadow say a threat and not do it for real?

Needless to say, Sonic stopped moving immediately after that not-so-empty threat. Knuckles and Blaze giggled at the scene while Espio was busy…being Espio.

_'I seriously need to ask Shadow to teach me how to get Sonic to shut up,_' thought Knuckles as he smirked at the blue hedgehog, clearly enjoying his torment.

"Anyway," said Tails as he once again tried to get everyone on the ship back to the matter at hand, "We've reached our destination safe and sound. In fact, it'll only take about half an hour to reach Southern Island."

"That is wonderful news, Tails," said Blaze, "But you said something about bad news, what is it?"

"Well, about that…" said the fox sheepishly, "I forgot to check the fuel when we left, so…I guess…we're stranded here…for the time being…" The fox then offered an apologetic smile at Sonic, who was staring at him with eyes as wide as saucers.

"WHAT THE HELL?" yelled the cobalt hedgehog with a voice so loud that it even broke Espio's meditation, "We're stranded? In the middle of the ocean? Surrounded by WATER?"

Tails nodded his head slowly in response and scratched the back of his head.

"Is this your way of getting back at me for what happened?" asked Sonic as he trembled visibly as his eyes laid upon the blue liquid surrounding him.

"What happened?" asked Blaze curiously. From the little time she had spent with them, the cat had never seen Tails and Sonic fight at all.

"Well, we got into an argument. Things got out of hand, and…it's a long story that ended with Eggman getting his butt kicked once again," said Sonic as he tried to calm down. The last thing he wanted to do was to cause another accidental slip. One was bad enough.

"You really hate water, don't you Sonic?" asked Espio gently.

"Did you work that out on your own, Sherlock?" retorted the blue blur sarcastically. The cobalt hero could be really rude, even ruder than usual, when he was anywhere near water.

"In any case," said Knuckles, "we only need to get to shore, right?" We can paddle this thing there with ease."

"And stick my hands in that nasty liquid?" Sonic gestured one hand to the calm surface of the ocean with a hateful glare, "Nuh uh, I don't think so, Knux."

Shadow was about to say something, but Blaze beat him to the punch.

"Don't worry, Sonic. I have just the thing to get us out of here."

Blaze then generated a small fire ball with her powers and shot it skyward. The fire ball exploded a while later and made a loud noise, probably enough to alert the entire island to their current location.

"There," said Blaze confidently, "She should be here any moment now."

"She?" asked Sonic and Tails simultaneously as they looked at Blaze.

At that moment, their ears picked up the sound of an approaching vessel. It was huge, much larger than the SS Tornado EX. However, to Tails and Sonic, it was a very familiar sight. Of course, how could Tails forget the ship he himself had built and named.

"The Ocean Tornado!" exclaimed the excited genius as he laid eyes upon the majestic navy warship, "Then the captain must be…"

"AHOY, mateys!" piped a high-pitch voice coming from the warship. It was a voice that Sonic and Tails knew very well.

"You're here very fast, Marine," said Blaze as she directed her gaze at the single raccoon on the giant vessel's deck.

"'Course I'm here fast. Capt. Marine is never late for her mates" said the raccoon proudly as she returned the princess' gaze. Marine was one of the few that treated Blaze like a friend, not as a royal princess, something which the cat was truly grateful for. However, said raccoon could get on her nerves (and practically anyone's) with her non-stop babbling which no-one could fully comprehend.

As soon as Marine caught sight of the familiar blue and yellow figures next to the lavender feline, she yipped loudly and jumped straight at the unsuspecting hedgehog from the deck of the warship, tackling him to the floor.

"Blimey, Sonic and Tails!" exclaimed the raccoon enthusiastically as she squeezed Sonic so hard that he couldn't breathe, "I thought I'd never see you two mates ever again."

"Nice to see you, too…Marine…Could you please...not turn this…meeting into my…funeral?" said Sonic as he desperately gasped for air.

Luckily for the blue blur, Marine let him go. Unfortunately for Tails, he was the next victim.

"Great to see…you…again…Marine…"

"Crikey, ain't this joyous!"

"Marine," said Blaze as she pulled prevented the raccoon from smothering the poor fox, "Could you take us back to port? I have something really important to tell everyone."

"Okie-dokey!, I'll take you scallywags back to shore in two shakes' of a lamb's tail."

"Scallywags?" whispered Sonic to Blaze as the raccoon jumped back onto the huge warship.

"Don't ask me. She has been with sailors and pirates for far too long."

With that, Marine hooked the SS Tornado EX to the Ocean Tornado and made a course toward Southern Island, with everyone now boarding the latter.

"So, mates," said Marine as she looked at Shadow, Knuckles, and Espio, "Did you bring new mates? Care to introduce us?"

"Yeah," said Sonic, "Marine, *gestured at his friends in order* Shadow, Knuckles, Espio. Shadow, Knuckles, Espio *gestured to the raccoon*, Marine."

Knuckles waved one of his namesakes at her. Shadow only stood still with his arms crossed and his face expressionless. Espio clasped his hands together and bowed his head respectfully to greet the raccoon, as well as showing gratitude toward her timely assistance.

"Welcome aboard _**my** _Ocean Tornado, mateys."

"Hey," said Tails, "This is my ship, too you know. I built her."

"Yeah, but you left her to my care. Strweth. So now she belongs to me," replied the raccoon. Then, she went on babbling in some sort of language that sounded alien in origin to everyone present, including Blaze.

Knuckles turned to Sonic and whispered to his ears in a very irritated tone.

"Can I punch the lights out of her?"

"Easy there, Knux. She may seem a little…weird, but she means well. You'll get used to her soon. Trust me, we all did." Blaze simply looked at the pissed-off guardian and nodded in agreement with the blue blur.

Knuckles just sat down and stayed quiet, trying his best to block the non-stop babbling of the young captain out of his ears. Shadow and Espio, on the other hand, didn't even seem to be bothered by the raccoon. In fact, they seemed to be talking to each other about something.

Sonic had to quirk an eyebrow at the two. It wasn't often Shadow talked to anyone in a somewhat civil manner, except Rouge and Omega, and sometimes, Tails. That the ebony hedgehog was talking without making any threats to another person was rather strange and somewhat shocking. Then again, Espio and Shadow did seem similar personality-wise, so the chameleon could easily strike up a friendly conversation with the loner agent without too much difficulty.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Sonic as he tried to get the attention of the two quiet members of the group.

"I was just talking to Shadow about the numerous methods of hacking a mainframe without being detected. He seems to know a great deal about technology. Also, such knowledge will surely come in handy in my line of work" replied Espio in one breath.

"At least he's studious and respectful in his manners," said Shadow as he looked at his arch-rival, "Unlike you, faker."

With that, the Ultimate Lifeform and the detective went back to their conversation and ignored Sonic. Said hedgehog just shrugged and went to where his other friends were.

"So, Marine," asked Blaze, "How soon can you take us back to port?"

"At this rate, we'll be there in about twenty minutes if we go at top speed."

"Good! I have something very important to do."

"No worry, mate. The seas are fine, the sky is blue. We'll be there before you can even say…"

Marine never got to finish her sentence. All of the sudden, dark clouds gathered above the warship, completely blocking out the sun. Everyone was worried by the sudden change in weather, but only Blaze and Knuckles, due to their nature as guardians to the most powerful relics of their respective worlds, could see that this abnormal change was not a natural occurrence.

"I sense something…evil," said Knuckles as he looked at the clouds.

"Yes, it is the same as when I faced the Lords of Pandemonium," said Blaze as she unknowingly set her own fists on fire, "They're coming."

As soon as Blaze finished, everyone went to her side and looked at the clouds. At this point, the winds had grown stronger and the waves had gotten violent, beating mercilessly against the body of the Ocean Tornado.

"Get ready, guys," said Sonic as he prepared for a possible battle.

The others nodded and got into their battle stances, ready to stand their grounds against the unknown forces.

A while later, dark aura began to ooze out of the dark clouds. The encircled above the Ocean Tornado before coming together to form phantom-like creatures with flowing dark cloaks, crimson eyes gleaming through the holes of a single ivory skull-shaped mask where the face should be. There were about a hundred of them, flocking together like ravens and gazing intently at the single prey below.

The phantoms had no feet. They simply floated around and gazed at the warship with their icy glares.

"Are those the creatures that you talked about?" asked Shadow as he studied the phantoms carefully, "They don't seem like much."

"No, I can sense that they are much weaker than the ones I faced, but still very dangerous. Perhaps those are only foot soldiers serving their lords."

Shadow only replied with a "Hmph!" and unfolded his arms, ready for an inevitable battles with these shadowy apparitions.

Without warning, the phantoms let out a deafening screech, which made everyone cover their ears in surprise. Each of them then summoned a giant scythe and flew straight at the Ocean Tornado, ready to tear the vessels apart and take out everyone on board.

**I really tried to imitate Marine's pattern of speech, but it was hard. Hopefully, what i wrote up there was enough. **

**Next time, first mission: protect Marine and fend off the reaper-like opponents. Stay tuned. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3: Trouble on the high seas

The mysterious specters flew straight at the Ocean Tornado with menacing scythes in hand, ready to tear the warship and its crew to shreds. Due to the limited moving space, the heroes couldn't react quickly enough to the sudden attack, despite having been prepared beforehand.

Some specters slashed the body of the Ocean Tornado with a mighty force, rocking it vigorously. The giant vessel rocked from left to right as if it had been hit by a giant tidal wave, making everyone on board hang on for dear lives, with Sonic being the worst case.

"Hey, mates," yelled Marine angrily as she desperately tried to regain control of her majestic vessel, "I've just painted the baby, get your dirty oversized grass cutters off of her."

"I think we have more to worry about than just the Ocean Tornado's paint job, Marine" said Tails as he hung tightly onto a nearby pole.

"Nah, My baby is my life, and I'm gonna protect her. All cannons…FIRE!" yelled the captain raccoon.

The Ocean Tornado had automatic cannons that activated by voice command. As soon as Marine gave the order, the cannons automatically took aim at the floating specters and opened fire. Needless to say, the cannons' aim was flawless, due to Tails' genius. The cannon balls hit their targets head on and created huge explosions everywhere as far as the eye could see.

"See, no worry when Capt. Marine is in control" exclaimed the excited raccoon as she continued to captain the ship back to port.

However, when the words left the confident raccoon's mouth, the specters emerged from the smoke unharmed and continued slashing the Ocean Tornado mercilessly. One suddenly appeared right in front of Marine, making her yell out loud in surprise. Fortunately for the young captain, it was chased away by Blaze's flames.

"I can sense that these creatures are almost lifeless," said Blaze as she continued shooting fireballs at the reaper-like creatures. However, the enemies quickly defended themselves from the barrage of fireballs by spinning their scythes and using them as shields.

"Me, too," said Knuckles as he grabbed a scythe of a specter and slashed its body. Much to his dismay, however, the attack went through the phantom-like creature's cloak like thin air.

"These guys don't have forms," concluded Tails as he looked at the ones that Knuckles had slashed, "How are we going to beat them?"

"You're the genius, buddy. You tell me" said Sonic as he tried to protect Marine from a horde of hostile reapers. The hedgehog used his trademark spin dash and hit the scythes off the specters' hands.

* * *

At this point, chaos ensued on the deck of the Ocean Tornado. Everyone was trying their best to protect Marine so that the raccoon could captain the ship back to the island, all the while trying to push back the malicious reapers, but to no avail. Shadow used his masterful combat skills to disarm the ghost-like creatures, but they simply conjured more scythes out of thin air to replace the ones they had lost.

Espio took out his trusty kunai to defend himself against the huge scythes with much difficulty. Blaze was throwing fireballs in every direction, but the specters quickly defended themselves using the same defensive maneuvers. Tails also tried to spin dash the apparitions, but like Knuckles' attacks, his attempts went through the specters' body. Sonic, in the meantime, continued to protect Marine and used his own homing attack to disarm and push back the hostile enemies.

One of Sonic's attacks managed to graze the masked face of a specter, making it flinch and pull back a little. The blue blur, however, was so busy with other menacing apparitions that he didn't notice the small reaction from that particular enemy.

* * *

Espio, on the other, noticed. His well-trained eyes quickly picked up on the slight flinch that certain specter had displayed and thought quietly to himself.

After a while of thinking, the chameleon took out some throwing stars and threw them at one specter that was closest to him. The specter managed to protect itself against two stars, but the third one landed directly in the middle of its mask, making it roar out in pain and disappeared into nothingness a second later.

Everyone stared at the disappearing specter in surprise, then at Espio for a possible explanation. The chameleon simple pulled out more shuriken and threw them at other specters in a similar fashion.

"Hit their masks," yelled Espio loudly in the midst of chaos, "It's their only solid part and also their weakness" The chameleon then turned invisible for a moment and reappeared right above a group of approaching specters, taking them out all at once with his kunai in one swift motion.

Everybody watched Espio's example and nodded to each other. Now that they knew how to deal with the threat, they could begin a counterattack.

* * *

Sonic quickly leaped into the air and unleashed a series of powerful homing attacks that practically snapped the specters' scythe on impact and hit them squarely on their skull masks. The force of the blue blur's attacks was so strong that it smashed the masks into pieces, effectively wiping out the menacing apparitions out of existence.

Shadow, at the same time, snatched the scythe of an approaching enemy and brutally split its face in half with a horizontal slash. The dark hedgehog then used the scythe like a boomerang and threw it at other advancing specters. The thrown scythe flew in a circular pattern and slashed through the masks of any targets it came into contact with, making them dissipate into the air.

Blaze used her pyrokinesis to temporarily achieve flight and headed straight for a horde of specters in front of her. Once in range, the cat unleashed powerful fire-boosted roundhouse kicks and punches to their weak point, breaking them in an instant. The princess also generated huge razor-shaped heat waves with her kicks and burned the faraway specters to a crisp.

Knuckles glided in the air and consecutively jabbed any apparition that got close to him. The echidna also stole their scythes and slashed them mercilessly. The red guardian held out two scythes in both hands and began to spin his body in mid air at a high speed, effectively creating a small tornado that sucked the reapers in and slaying all of the specters surrounding him.

Tails used his namesakes to take to the sky and headed for a group of apparitions above. The fox used his aerobatic skills and lightning-quick reflexes to lure the specters into taking each other out by quickly descending or ascending consecutively. When the number had reduced significantly, Tails used his own version of the homing attack and damaged the masks of the remaining specters with incredible force, taking them out as well.

Soon, with everyone's combined efforts, the horde of menacing ghost-like enemies quickly dwindled and disappeared steadily. While trying their best to take out the enemies, the heroes also made sure to pay attention to Marine and let her captain the Ocean Tornado back to Southern Island safe and sound, a task the proved quite difficult in unfavorable weather conditions. However, the raccoon, despite her age and her immature personality, was a great captain in her own rights. She quickly responded to any sudden change in the waves and steadily guided her beloved ship back to port.

After a rather long voyage, the number of specters was finally reduced to below ten. The heroes swiftly took out most of them without too much difficulty. When Sonic was about to hunt down the remaining ones, they opened a dark portal behind them and escaped through it.

As soon as the last specter disappeared from the scene, the dark clouds above lifted, revealing the azure sky once more, much to everyone's relief. Knowing that they had won the battle, the heroes onboard the Ocean Tornado cheered loudly and allowed themselves a brief celebration of a job well done.

* * *

"That was a close call" said Tails as he wiped the sweats off his forehead.

"Yeah, if Espio hadn't figured out how to destroy those things, we'd be swimming to shore right now" said Sonic as he shrugged at the scary thought of being IN the ocean, "Thanks a ton, Espio. You're a great detective."

"Your attack allowed me a brief glimpse at the nature of those creatures," replied the primrose chameleon as he put his kunai back into the cuff around his glove, "I simply followed your lead, Sonic."

"But thanks to you, we're safe," said Knuckles as he patted his former partner's shoulder with more force than he had intended, making the chameleon cringe a little from the sudden pain, "Give yourself some credit, Esp."

"Well done," said Shadow as he crossed his hands and smirked at Espio, which clearly surprised Sonic, Tails and to some extent, Knuckles.

"Did you just compliment someone without making sarcastic remarks?" asked Sonic as he pointed his index finger at the ebony hedgehog in surprise. Shadow wasn't the type to give out compliments, so of course it was a surprise.

"I give credit where credit is due, faker."

Sonic was about to say something, but a high-pitch yelling from the steering wheel cut him off.

"AHOY, mateys. We are here at last. Southern Island is right in front f us," yelled Marine excitedly with Blaze by her side.

"We'll be arriving in Windmill Village shortly" said Blaze as she turned her gaze to the others. The cat shook her head slightly and went to her comrades.

"I'm truly sorry for dragging you into this whole mess…" began the princess only to be cut off by the blue blur.

"Don't worry about it, Blaze. We're all glad to help. Besides, this mess also affects our world, so it is our responsibility too."

"That's right, Blaze," agreed Tails as he patted the cat's shoulder gently, "We'll get to the bottom of this. All of us, together."

Blaze looked at Sonic and Tails briefly, then at the other three members of the group. Knuckles gave her an assuring smirk, Shadow simply closed his eyes and crossed his hands together, while Espio once again clasped his hands together and bowed his head respectfully at the princess.

After a while, Blaze smiled a tiny smile and muttered "Thank you" to all those present. A few minutes later, the Ocean Tornado arrived at the port, and everybody got off the ship.

Tails took a quick glance at the warship and realized another serious problem regarding their only ticket home.

"Uh, guys," said the fox sheepishly, "We have another problem…About the SS Tornado EX…It's busted."

...

**So, what do you think? I tried to be as detailed as possible to describe the fight scenes. Just something for everyone to look forward to in later chapters. Please leave some reviews. I love reviews, especially constructive ones. Thank you all for your patience.**

** Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all! :)  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? First of all, ****I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with your friends and family**. Second of all, **I'm sorry for the long wait (too long in my standard), I'm having my finals this week and the following week, so I have to crack my head and try to store as much info as my brain can afford (It's gonna burst, I know it, it's starting a countdown at the moment).**

******Well, here's the update, hope you enjoy it.**

**Also, in response to shdowhunt60's review: Yes, yes I did. :) **

Chapter 4: Perpetual Darkness

"...About the SS Tornado EX…It's busted" said Tails sheepishly as he gestured to the wreck that used to be his proud inter-dimensional transport, which was properly everyone's only ticket home.

"WHAT?" shouted Sonic and Knuckles in unison at the sudden revelation. Shadow and Espio simply stood still with their poker faces on, but they were more or less thinking the exact same thing as their companions.

"Probably due to the waves," continued the fox as he slowly backed away from his hysterical friends for fear of getting jumped on. Honestly, Knuckles wasn't exactly the sanest of echidna when he lost it.

It took a while before Sonic managed to regain himself. Knuckles, on the other hand, looked like he was on the verge of running on a rampage. The cobalt hedgehog shook his head vigorously and looked at Tails.

"It's cool. We'll figure something out" said Sonic in an attempt to lift everyone's spirit up, "In the meantime, let's just focus on why we're here."

Everyone simply nodded in agreement and followed Blaze to the village. While walking, Blaze walked close to Sonic and whispered in his ears.

"I'm really s…"

"Stop that, Blaze," said Sonic in his usual light-hearted tone, "I told you, we'll figure something out. Well, more like Tails will figure something out, hopefully. We got home safely before, and we'll do it again. For now, let's focus on saving the worlds first."

Blaze smiled at her selfless friend and nodded her head slightly. The next few minutes proceeded in silence as everyone followed Blaze and Marine back to the raccoon's place.

After a few minutes of walking, the gang arrived at their destination. In front of them was a huge fortress with state-of-the-art technology. Apparently, the raccoon had been keeping everything in good shape since Sonic and Tails' last adventures in this world.

"Alright, here we are," chimed Marine cheerfully as she opened the door and walked in, "Make yourselves at home, mates."

The rest followed and entered the place. Tails and Sonic were instantly hit by nostalgia once they were inside the cozy residence of the raccoon. The interior of the house hadn't changed much since their last visit. If anything, it looked like it was cleaner and much more well decorated than last time. The floor was absolutely pristine, which was pretty unusual for Marine; the walls were filled with pictures of their last adventures. Also, there were new pieces of equipment, most notably a giant computer screen. Everything reminded the duo of the amazing days of the past adventures.

"This place is more amazing than I remember," said Tails as he looked around the room.

"Yeah, me and my boys have been busy keeping this place in top shape since you left, mates."

Blaze went to the table and quickly operated the communication device nearby.

"This is princess Blaze. I request the immediate presence of Grand Advisor Zagan immediately" said the princess in an authoritative tone much unlike her usually soft one.

A second later, the screen turned on and an ancient owl with a long beard. He was dressed in a royal silver robe that covered his entire body save for his feet; his outfit was complete with another layer of robe on the outside, a pointy triangular hat and a jeweled necklace. The owl, despite his ancient appearance, looked very healthy and strong, with his eyes gleaming with life and a benevolent smile on his face.

"Princess Blaze," said the owl in a gentle tone, one that fit his benevolent appearance quite well, "For what have you summoned me?"

"Everyone, allow me to introduce Grand Advisor Zagan," said Blaze as she turned to her friends and gestured at the owl on the screen, "He is my wisest and most trusted confidant and advisor. He has been providing me with the wisdom of the past guardians for as long as I can remember."

Tails and Espio bowed their heads respectfully at the old bird, while Sonic, Knuckles simply waved their hands. They were not accustomed to acting formally, even though they meant well. Shadow simply acted like himself, although he did offer the bird a slight nod of his head. Marine was somewhere in the kitchen grabbing a bite, so she wasn't present.

"You must be Sonic and Tails," said Advisor Zagan as he directed his gaze at the blue hedgehog and the fox and bowed his head slightly, "I have heard a lot about your heroic deeds and your roles in undermining the lunatics' schemes to destroy this world, as well as your invaluable support for her highness in her time of need. For that, you have my sincere gratitude."

Sonic and Tails blushed, not knowing how to deal with such a compliment from someone as old and wise as the Grand Advisor. They turned to Blaze and saw that she also nodded her head in agreement.

"In any case," said Zagan as he turned his head back to Blaze, "Let us return to the question of why you have called upon me, your highness."

"Yes, let's. Grand Advisor, have you ever heard of a group of seven deities sealed within the Sol Emeralds that called themselves the Lords of Pandemonium?"

"That name stirs up troubling memories indeed," said the owl as he stroke his beard and thought for a moment, "In the past, they were among the most dangerous and most destructive forces that sought to bring chaos and misery to the inhabitants of the world. In those days, people lived in fear of their wrath and despair. However, the guardian at that time, with the help of the benevolent Goddess Sol, managed to seal them in seven jewels and forged the seven Sol Emeralds. The Emeralds would later serve as the foundation of the new world, as well as the prison to contain the madness of the seven beasts of catastrophe."

The room grew quiet as they listened to the old bird. It was a while later when Blaze decided to break the ice.

"If they are sealed within the Emeralds, then how did they manage to escape?"

"If I were to venture a guess, I would say the seal was weakened and broken from the inside. After all, it takes an extremely large amount of Sol Energy to contain those deities of destruction, a feat that not anyone is capable of. In addition, the intervention of Dr Eggman Nega and his minions might have given these deities an opportunity to weaken and break out of their confine when you were busy, princess."

"I see…" Blaze whispered as she processed the information.

"Mr. Zagan, Sir," said Tails as he raised his hand up to ask for permission to speak. Once Advisor Zagan nodded his head, the fox continued, "May I ask if there is any way to reseal them inside the Sol Emeralds?"

"Indeed. Yes, there is. However, the scroll that told of the method and ritual of sealing was…misplaced inside the Royal Archive a while back, so I cannot say for sure."

"Misplaced?" asked Blaze in surprise, "Who would misplace such a valuable document?"

"Perhaps you remember the incident involving Dr. Eggman Nega and the Jeweled Scepter? During the chaos, our men desperately tried to protect everything we could from the Palace, and in our haste, some documents were misplaced, not lost, I can assure you. I have a list that proves that the document is indeed somewhere inside the Archive, but I do not know where exactly. We have never got round to doing that just yet."

"Advisor, please tell the guards, maids, servants and everyone in the castle to look for that scroll immediately, even if they have to turn the entire castle upside down. As soon as you find it, please take it to Windmill Village on Southern Island at once. This is a matter of life and death."

"I will relay the order at once, your highness. Is there anything else you would like me to do?"

"That is all, for now. Thank you, Grand Advisor. Have a good day."

"And I should say the same to you too, your highness. If you have nothing to add, I will take my leave now."

With that, the computer screen turned off and the room went silent again.

"He is...an interesting bird," said Sonic as he tried to lift the mood, "How long have you known him, Blaze?"

"All my life, I guess. He is like a father figure to me. He stood by me and put up with my selfishness when everyone in the kingdom feared me and my flames."

"From the way you talk to Master Zagan, you seem to hold him in high regards, and I can tell so does he." said Espio.

"Well," Blaze said as she chuckled lightly, "I do have a lot of respect for him. However, he can annoy me sometimes. If you strike a conversation with Zagan, never mention chess or tea, because he will talk your ears off for a week."

Everybody in the room laughed at the comment. The tension was temporarily lifted from the air. However, the laughter died down and let silence reign once more.

"So," asked Shadow as he leaned against the wall, "What do we do while waiting for your men to find the scroll?"

"I suppose we can discuss a way to locate the seven deities first," replied Blaze, "After all, we do have…"

The princess' words were cut short when the sky suddenly grew darker and darker. A second later, a clap of thunder pierced the tranquil air with a loud bang, causing the astraphobic Tails to jump head first into Sonic.

"What…what was that?" asked the twin-tailed fox as he trembled in the cobalt hedgehog's hands. Sonic tried his best to comfort the shaking ball of fluff, chuckling slightly as he was reminded of his childhood spent with the kid.

"Looks like we don't need to worry about finding them," said Knuckles sternly.

"Why is that?" asked Sonic as he stroked Tails' head gently to calm the fox down.

"I sense evil and darkness," replied the echidna, "This is not a natural storm. It's their doing."

"So that means…"

"They found us" said Shadow as he looked out of the window from the wall he was leaning on.

It was an ominous sight outside. Everything was dark. The wind was growing ominously chilly and getting stronger and stronger as time passed. There was some kind of vortex in the sky.

All of the sudden, a pillar of darkness shot down from the mysterious vortex and split the seas below. The sudden occurrence also created an earthquake strong enough to shake Marine's fortress-like house, forcing everyone to lie down on the floor to take cover.

When the earthquake subsided, the heroes ran out of the door and looked in the direction where the pillar had hit. To their shock and amazement, they saw a huge island that was perhaps twice as big as Southern Island itself. The mysterious island was filled with dark aura much like the one that had filled the chamber of the Sol Emeralds.

"They're here" growled Blaze as she tried to control herself. Her fists were clenched with flames covering them.

A dark violet beam of pure darkness was shot skyward from the ominous island exploded in the air. After that, the sight of seven cloaked figures appeared, hovering in the air where the explosion had taken place. They looked at Southern Island and directly as Blaze and the others with cold and malicious eyes under their flowing hoods.

"This doesn't look good" stated Sonic plainly as he watched the menaces above.

The others simply nodded in agreement and took their battle stances, ready to face the deities' wrath.

**Stay tuned everyone, if you're still interested in where this is headed**.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi, I know I haven't been active lately, I'm terribly sorry for the long delay. Anyway, this is the latest chapter of my story, enjoy, mates.**

**Oh yeah, happy new year to all! May all of your new year's resolutions come true, everyone. :) **

Chapter 5: Challenge of the Deities

The hovering deities looked at Southern Island from where they were with cold and menacing eyes, the likes that could easily send chills up and down one's spine at first sight. They looked like they were ready to tear the entire place apart. However, rather than the inhabitants of the island, the seven immortals directed their cold gazes at six certain individuals that dared to return with their own glares.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," said the being cloaked in a grey in the middle with a soft tone, but cruelty and deception could easily be traced in that soothing and suave voice. Furthermore, he seemed to be addressing the entire world with his speech, not just one island, "I have a simple announcement to make. I do not know whether your beloved princess has told you of our coming or not, but in case she didn't, I will simply tell you briefly. Starting from this moment, I declare this world to be dead, as well as all of its inhabitants...starting with the ones on this island."

Not even bothering with the commotion he had stirred up from his message, the god looked to the farthest deity to his right, who was dressed in cyan, and gave him a slight nod. The other one returned the gesture and immediately dived straight into the ocean below, much to everyone's bewilderment.

...

A moment after the cannonball act, a gigantic sea serpent with an azure body emerged from the spot, shocking everyone on the island, including Sonic and his allies.

The newly-emerged creature was indeed an impressive sight to behold, a sight that would spell the end to those that had the honor of witnessing. The sheer size of that sea dragon completely dwarfed the entirety of Southern Island, and its two glowing crimson eyes and four sharp horns on its head only made its terrifying appearance all the more impressive.

Its azure body was covered by tiny pointy scales of darker shade. Even though the creature possessed no limb, it had gigantic jaws that looked like they could easily devour half of Southern Island with relative ease in one single bite.

...

Sonic and the gang were shocked speechless by the sudden appearance of that incredible monstrosity. How something of that size could even exist in nature was inconceivable. Before they could do anything to overcome their shock, the great beast opened its jaws and shot out a freezing azure beam at the island.

The beam hit Southern Island directly. Blaze and her fellow heroes would also have received a direct hit if the princess hadn't managed to conjure a blazing wall of flames in the nick of time. A second later after the sudden attack, the island was frozen solid save for the spot where Blaze's flames had shielded, much to the surprise of the seven friends (counting Marine, of course).

"W-W-What j-just happened?" stammered Tails as he looked at the damage caused by one single attack. The rest of the island as well as everything and everyone, was frozen solid in a matter of seconds.

The others could only stare speechlessly, unable to utter a word. Blaze seemed to be the one that was shaken the most by this show of might, which was probably the deities' sole intention.

"Well done, Livyath," said the deity in grey, "That should be enough proof that our powers far exceed anything that these mortals are capable of. Rulers of the world's nations, you have just all witnessed a fraction of our powers. You can try to resist us, but in the end, you will fail miserably, and you will all die. The only thing you can do right now is accept your fate and spend the rest of your remaining time praying that your souls will not be claimed by the darkness of the abyss..."

The cloaked being was about to continue with his message, but he was stopped abruptly by a fireball coming right at him. All of the sudden, the female god in purple next to him extended her armored arm and slashed that single ball of flames into oblivion.

"Princess Blaze, pleasure to see you again" said the grey-cloak being.

"I will not let you destroy the world, you monsters" shouted the agitated feline as she generated more fireballs with her power.

"You are as amusing as before. However, much as I love to have you entertain us with your bonfires, we have pressing matters to tend to. Also, since you are no longer of any use to us, you can just be the first to die." He then turned to the great sea serpent below, "Livyath, breakfast."

The sea serpent immediately opened its enormous jaws and lunged forward in an attempt to swallow Blaze along with everyone else.

...

When the serpent got close enough to everyone's current location, Tails, without warning, flew right above its jaw at an impressive speed and generated a bomb by clicking his fingers together, much to everyone's, except Sonic, surprise. The fox then threw it at one of the raging beast's glowing orbs, the only things that didn't seem to be heavily protected by scales.

Due to the sheer size of the monster, it couldn't dodge the incoming explosive in time. The bomb exploded loudly upon contact, effectively blinding the targeted eye and making it roar loudly in pain. There was a lot of smoke coming out if the beast's injured eye, as well as some purple liquid.

...

Livyath pulled back its head almost immediately after the sudden attack. The mighty sea serpent looked like it was in pain as it swung its giant body violently from side to side while roaring in sheer agony. The other deities remained still, unmoving, so everyone was not sure whether they were surprised or not.

"Sweet move Tails!" exclaimed Sonic as he gave Tails a high-five, "Haven't seen those gloves of yours since Westside Island."

"Yeah, I put them on while making preparations for the SS Tornado EX. Came in handy after all" replied the fox cheerfully as he flashed Sonic small grin.

"You just saved us, dude" said Knuckles as he patted Tails' head, "Nice job!"

"But I seriously doubt **IT** finds any amusement in what you did" said Shadow coldly as he pointed at the giant menace in front of them, which had stopped its violent thrashing.

...

Livyath had stopped roaring, and was glaring directly at the heroes with its remaining eye which was shinning much more brightly than before, especially at the two-tailed fox. The sea serpent bared its fangs in a feral snarl and was about to charge at the his targets. However, the other six figures appeared In front of it and stopped the enraged beast in its track.

"Why did you stop me?" asked Livyath in a thunderous roar, "That insolent fur ball of a mortal dared to blind my eye. I'll never be satisfied until I tear him to shreds and devour his corpse in revenge!"

"Because this is interesting, **kiddo**" said another enigma dressed in dark blue with a low voice that sounded much like a growl, "They should be fun to play with, heh heh heh."

"It appears you insist on standing in our way til the bitter end, princess," said the leader once more, "and you have found yourself quite a group of warriors to do so."

"We will stop you, no matter what it takes, creeps," yelled Sonic loudly as he pointed at each and every one of the deities.

"Hmm, they are quite interesting indeed, **Arzazel**," said a voice of an old man coming from the red-cloaked deity as he turned his head to look at the leader.

"Yes, quite... How about we make you a deal?" said Arzazel as he eyed Blaze.

"What kind of deal?" asked Blaze in an angry tone.

"Quite simple, princess. We will allow this rotten and filthy world more time to exist as long as you agree to my terms."

The heroes looked at each other in bewilderment before turning their gazes back at the deadly monsters in front of them.

"It has been a while since we last faced such wonderful and distinguished individuals such as yourselves. As a reward for your bravado and tenacity, we will allow you access to the Forbidden Island to face all of us. If you truly think you can stop us, then you can try there."

"Why would you want to do that?" asked Sonic.

"We do enjoy a good show every now and then, and you seem to be the perfect entertainers" said the female enigma.

"Bottomline, you just want to toy with us and show off your power to the rest of the world" said Knuckles angrily.

"Interesting!" said Shadow smugly as he uncrossed his hands and looked smugly at the deities, "this may prove to be worth my while after all."

"I like the dark one," said the same growl-like voice of the god in dark blue, "I can't wait to wipe the smugness off his face and make him scream in absolute terror, heh heh heh heh."

"I'll obliterate that two-tailed freak of a mortal for what he did to my eye," boomed the thunderous voice of Livyath as it looked at Tails with murder intent. The fox, however, was neither impressed nor intimidated by the gigantic serpent before him, or at least he tried to look strong in front of his friends.

Espio stared at the lone deity dressed in a green cloak, the one that had not uttered a single word ever since the Lords appeared, while Knuckles studied the one on the furthest left in a yellow robe that seemed to be the bulkiest among the enigmatic deities.

"So, what say you, princess?" asked Arzazel once more as he extended his hand toward the cat, "Do we have a deal?"

Blaze turned to look at her friends. Before she could say anything, Sonic patted her shoulder gently and smiled encouragingly.

"Are you sure about this, Sonic?" asked Blaze with uncertainty and concern in her voice.

"If this can buy us some time, sure. Besides, you really think we'll lose to a bunch of flamboyant vampire wannabes?"

Blaze looked at the other and they simply nodded in agreement with the blue blur's statement.

"Thank you, everyone" said Blaze softly. The cat then whipped her head around and glared at the leader god.

"We accept your challenge."

"Very well! Then let us begin right away" said Arzazel as he turned his head around and nodded slightly at the gigantic serpent, ordering it to stand down.

With that, Livyath disappeared and returned to his cloaked form once more and rejoined the other immortals. Once that was done, Arzazel raised his hand in the air and magically lifted ground on which Sonic and the other were standing. Marine was shocked by the sudden move, so she stumbled backward and fell back into her now frozen house. Without warning, darkness completely engulfed the heroes and they soon vanished a second later.

The gods then turned around and took their leave, staying true to their word to leave the world intact...for the time being.

* * *

**Well, about the names of the deities, some people may find them very familiar.  
**

**Livyath is the name I came up with (not very nice, I know) from the original name Livyatan or Leviathan. Arzazel comes from Azazel, the mutant in the Marvel comics (I like that guy's abilities) whose name also comes from the being of the same name. Also, the letter "A" in his name also signifies his alpha status as the leader of the seven deities.  
**

**Well, that's it for now folks, until next time. **


	7. Chapter 7

Well, since I'm currently free, I have a lot of time to edit this chapter.

_**Please pay attention to my note at the end of the page, for there will be a little activity for those who follow this story. A simple activity for fun.**_

That's all. Enjoy the chapter, everyone.

Chapter 6: The Forbidden Island

A few moments later, Sonic and his friends reappeared in a strange and eerie place that looked very much like a dead forest with burnt-down trees. The place looked extremely huge and lonely, the kind of scenery that would send chills up and down one's spine in the dead of night. The walls surrounding them were made entirely of rocks, and there were some strange carvings and demonic statues standing everywhere.

"What is this place?" asked Sonic as he turned around to his companions.

"Beats me," replied Knuckles as he shrugged, "We're aliens to this world, remember?"

"Blaze, do you have any idea where we may be at?" asked Espio as he carefully scanned his surroundings for potential ambushes. The chameleon, due to his years of learning the art of ninjutsu, could never let his guard down even for a brief second.

"This is my first time seeing this place as well, so I do not know," answered the cat forlornly.

"The last thing I remember was being lifted off the ground and teleported off in a huff by those beings," said Tails.

"Then that means we're in their base," concluded Shadow calmly like he was talking about the weather.

"Correct! Heh heh heh." boomed a loud growl above the group, which made everyone look up in alert. The seven deities hovered down and stood in front of heroes, taunting them with their presence.

"Welcome to the Forbidden Island, mortals," said Arzazel formally, "You should feel honored to be invited to the domain of the gods of catastrophe."

"More like a place where demons gather if you ask me," said Tails.

"Shut up, you fuzz ball," yelled the figure in cyan with a high-pitched voice much like that of a child as he stepped up and pointed at Tails indignantly, "I'll skin you alive right here, right now for your insolence."

"Not now, Livyath," said the female deity in exasperation as she put her hand on her companion's shoulder, stopping him from advancing any further.

"And why is that, **Lamia**?"

"There's no point in killing them right away after we went through all the trouble of getting them here. We should at least let them entertain us a little bit more."

"You are always like that, Lamia. But I'm not just gonna…"

Livyath stopped talking immediately when Arzazel turned his head and glared at him. The currently smallest of the gods huffed and stepped down immediately, not wanting to provoke the leader's wrath.

"I sincerely apologize for my comrade's rude welcoming. He has been trapped in his Sol Emerald for so long that he seems to have forgotten how to be a gracious host towards visitors to the island."

"Why don't you stop your meaningless charade and get to the point?" said Shadow coldly. When he was done, the hedgehog heard the same disturbing, bone-chilling laugh coming from a certain cloaked figure.

"I suppose you are right. We seem to have wasted too much valuable time already, so I will explain the rules of the game right now."

"Game?" asked all six heroes simultaneously.

"Yes, **game**" replied Lamia with a sweet voice, "The one we used to play millennia ago with those that considered themselves the strongest heroes of the world. Turns out they were nothing more than mere imbeciles incapable of understanding the difference between their capabilities and ours."

"There are a total of six portals in this chamber," said Arzazel as he gestured his hand around the place they were at, "Each of you will choose one and step through it. Each portal will lead to one separate dimension inside our domain. Complete the challenges in your chosen location and you will earn the right to face the ruler of that dimension."

"Why are there only six portals when there are seven of you?" asked Sonic.

"Just something to even the odds, young one," replied the familiar old voice of the red-clad deity.

"Now then, we will give you time to think carefully about which of you will go through which portal. Do take your time. However, I would advise against taking too long. You wouldn't want me of all people to lose my patience, even though I have a lot of patience to spare."

With that, the seven deities disappeared into darkness they created, leaving the six mortals to decide among themselves.

...

"So, I guess we'll just have to decide, huh?" said Sonic as he examined the glowing portals.

"Yeah, only one person can go through a portal, "said Tails, "It's the old 'divide and conquer' tactic."

"They are indeed tricky, these creatures," said Espio.

"Whatever, we get to beat all six of them at the same time. Saves us a lot of time going through one by one if you ask me" said Knuckles as he cracked his fingers loudly, clearly in the mood for a brawl.

"For once, I agree with the echidna," said Shadow, "This certainly saves us a lot of time and energy."

Blaze didn't say anything. She just stood still with her head down, deep in thoughts. Sonic noticed and patted the cat's shoulder, effectively breaking her out of her trance.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Blaze, "It's just…I have a lot on my mind right now."

"Don't worry, Blaze. I know it must feel very hard on you right now with the fate of the world on your shoulders, but you don't have to worry too much. You have us."

"Thank you, Sonic. You always seem to know how to cheer someone up" said Blaze as she flashed the hedgehog a small smile.

"Thanks to my years of taking care of a certain almost insufferably stubborn genius, I know a thing or two when it comes to knowing what to say at the right time," said Sonic proudly, which earned him a playful punch on the shoulder by the that same genius, whose face was almost split by his wide grin.

Blaze smiled at the scene. Even in the face of danger and possible demise, Sonic and his friends could still be themselves.

"Alright, we need to hurry up," said Blaze at last, "Like he said, we don't have much time. I will take the third portal from the left."

"Then the farthest one on the left is mine," said Tails.

"I'll go with the one next to Tails' one" said Sonic as he did his warm-up exercises.

"I pick the final portal on the right, then" said Knuckles.

"I'll go with the one next to the echidna's choice" said Shadow.

"In that case, the last portal is mine," said Espio.

"Alright, we each have our pick, now let's move out and kick some vampire wannabes' sorry butts and save the day...and then have some chilidogs," said Sonic as he approached his chosen portal. The others, some of whom were shaking their heads in mock disapproval of the hedgehog's pep talk, simply nodded and did the same.

After a short moment of looking at each other, the heroes extended their feet and promptly walked through their selected paths, ready to face the challenges the deities had in store for each of them.

**Author's note:**

**Alright then, the game begins now. **

**The introduction is over, now comes the "Character Select" part like I told you. As you already know, there are six "playable" characters, and currently, five of them are selectable (I haven't finished Espio's stage yet unfortunately, sorry Espio's fans).**

**The first person to review will be able to select the character he/she wants to read about first. After that, another person will select the next character and so on. If nobody nominates any character, I will personally pick one myself, or let those who have already made their pick to choose again.**

**This is simply an idea to be "original" in my part (though I'm not sure if it has been done before). If anyone is interested, please feel free to participate. Thank you. Have a nice day, everyone. **


	8. Chapter 8 - Knuckles

**Since the first person to make a nomination was ABCSonicKirbyWarriors (12 hours ago), Knuckles will be the first to be featured. Please don't be so disappointed, the other characters will have their turn soon enough. Also, each character's stage will be 3-chapter long.**

**Also, I would like to thank everyone for taking your precious time and following my story. Thank you. Without further ado, here is Knuckles' stage.**

* * *

Ancient Graveyard – Act 1: Test of Worthiness

Knuckles was taken to a different location right after passing through his selected portal. When the echidna stepped out to the other side of said portal, he found himself at a very old graveyard of some sort.

The place looked abandoned and ancient, probably millennia old. There were tombstones everywhere, whose carvings and designs were nothing short of unusual. Knuckles tried to read the words inscribed on one of the various scattered tombstones, but they were written in a language that he couldn't understand.

"Well, this is Blaze's world after all," said Knuckles silently as he scanned his surroundings.

True to the atmosphere of a graveyard, the place was very chilly, misty and eerie, a perfect location and atmosphere for an ambush.

There were occasional sounds of insects crying somewhere far away that echoed in the darkness of the everlasting night. The air was damp due to the enveloping mist. The sight of such a dreadful landscape would give any visitor the creeps. However, Knuckles was not one bit frightened by the deathly still and silent resting place of the long deceased. If anything, he only shivered ever so slightly due to the chilly mist covering the entire area.

"Now where am I supposed to go from here?" said Knuckles to himself as he carefully treaded around, all the while darting his eyes from left to right for some sort of signs or hints as to where he should be headed.

…

All of the sudden, Knuckles heard a strange sound coming from behind him and turned back. That sound was not of a howling insect, which easily caught his attention. When he did, his eyes went wide when he saw a huge cloaked figure in yellow. Now that he was dangerously close to the god, Knuckles could see his real size, which was twice the size of the echidna.

Without warning, the yellow-clad deity lunged forward at an impressive speed, one that shouldn't be possible for someone so large, and threw an extraordinarily powerful punch at the lone guardian.

…

Despite the initial surprise, the echidna quickly responded to the newly arrived enigma's attack and threw a punch of his own.

The two thunderous fists collided with one another and created a strong shockwave that completely destroyed the stone statues around the two combatants. Knuckles' attack evenly matched with his opponent's.

The force of the impact also forced Knuckles and the cloaked deity away from each other.

"Who are you?" yelled Knuckles as he quickly got into his battle stance, ready for a possible brawl with the bulky enigma. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he was rather impressed that someone was able to match his strength, a feat that only few people were capable of.

"You came to my place without introducing yourself and now you're asking me to state my name," said the figure in a deep voice, "You are one rude fellah."

"Alright then, my name is…"

"Knuckles the echidna, the sole guardian of the Master Emerald in a parallel dimension, a hero that contributed to protecting your own world from destruction" said the figure fluently and quickly like he was stating the day's weather, much to Knuckles' shock.

"How do you…"

"Know so much about you? I'm a god, I know everything that I need to know."

"But how…"

"How do I know things that are not of this world? Simple. During the time I spent trapped inside my Sol Emerald, I can view the outside world every time the current guardian of the mystic gems uses their powers."

"But…" said Knuckles with a really annoyed tone. He was rather irritated that the deity kept interrupting him, much like what Sonic usually did.

"My oh my, you should really learn not to interrupt others while they are speaking, mortal. It is a very rude thing to do."

At this point, Knuckles had had it with the deity's game.

"**And you're one to talk**," yelled Knuckles angrily at the clearly hypocritical and sarcastic deity before him, "Since you know so much about me already, why bother asking?"

"Simple formality, that's all," replied the giant god with a playful shrug.

"Enough. Just answer my question. Who the heck are you?"

With a sigh to feign disappointment, the deity took off his cloak and revealed himself fully to the pissed off guardian. Once the cloak was no longer around his body, Knuckles could see the face of the being that he would have to deal with.

In front of him was a minotaur-like creature with similar features. His body was of a shade of brownish yellow. His chest was bulky and hard, and so were his limbs. His entire body was littered with battle scars, which clearly showed how many battles he had endured and survived through the ages.

Like the mythological Minotaur, he also had two sharp ivory horns coming out from the top of his head. The deity also wore black armor plates around his chest, a black loincloth around his waist tied in place by a golden belt with spikes, armor shins and matching spiked shoulder pads. He also wore a helmet on top of his head and a gold nose ring. His appearance made him look like a professional gladiator in the days of old that Knuckles had read about.

The deity looked at Knuckles with his amber glowing orbs and smirked maliciously.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am **Belphur of the Immovable Soils,** master of earth and strength, and this is my domain, the Ancient Graveyard."

"So, all I need to do is beat the snot out of you and then you'll stop trying to destroy the worlds?"

"Technically, yes. But doing so would be extremely…hazardous for you, I must say. Nobody has ever been able to best me at close combat before."

"So, I'm about to become the first, huh?" said Knuckles confidently as he cracked his fingers and did some warm-up exercises.

"You're amusing, Knuckles" said Belphur as he laughed loudly at the echidna's remark, "I think I'll enjoy this game more than I first thought. Alright, come at me, o mighty guardian."

…

Without waiting for Belphur to repeat himself, Knuckles instantly charged at the deity at an impressive speed, not close to Sonic's, but still very impressive.

In an instant, the echidna appeared in front of the minotaur-like deity and delivered a mighty punch at his exposed stomach. The force of the attack made Belphur crouch forward a little bit, but he still stood his ground firmly.

After the first hit, Knuckles launched a series of equally powerful jabs at his opponent's mid section. The god, on the other hand simply stood still and endured as the rain of fists poured down on his hardened flesh.

All of the echidna's attacks connected and created powerful shockwaves upon impact, whose force was more than enough to blast the nearby gravestones away in an instant. After his approximately one hundredth punch, Knuckles jumped back and looked at Belphur to assess the amount of damage he had caused.

However, much to Knuckles' horror and shock, the deity didn't even so much as take half a step back after all those powerful blows to his stomach and chest. Instead, he looked at the stunned echidna and simply smirked arrogantly.

"Is that all, guardian?" said Belphur with a roll of his eyes, "When you managed to block my first attack, I thought you would be able to do better than this."

The giant creature then raised his gigantic hand and pulled it back with his fist tightly clenched.

"I'll show you how to throw a real punch, echidna."

With that, he pushed his giant hand forward at a speed so fast that Knuckles barely had any time to react. Fortunately for the echidna, he managed to guard himself by crossing his arms in front of him and somewhat softened the god's blow a little bit and reduced to damage. However, that didn't mean that the blow was completely ineffective.

The force of Belphur's punch was so immense that the energy it released practically laid waste to the entire area behind Knuckles. Right upon impact, Knuckles was sent flying across the entire length of the place and crashing into a huge statue far away, smashing it into tiny bits of pebbles.

Groaning in pain, Knuckles got out of the rubble and wobbly stood up. Knuckles had received worse damage than this. The guardian shook his head vigorously to clear his blurry vision and glared at the menacing creature before him.

'_This guy is crazy strong' _thought the echidna begrudgingly, '_I've never seen a punch like __**that**__ before.'_

"Well well, it seems you managed to survive my punch. Good job," said Belphur as he clapped his hands loudly, creating powerful bursts of wind at each time his palmed connected that made Knuckles struggle slightly to stand his ground. "Congratulations, Knuckles, you've passed my test. It seems that you are indeed worthy to face me after all."

"What do you mean by that?" growled the echidna as he once again prepared himself for a second punch.

"After going through countless battles, I'm tired of fighting weaklings. I need someone that can provide me with a decent challenge, not waste my time. So, I usually test my opponents before fighting them to evaluate their worth. If they manage to survive my test attack, they pass and will earn the right to face me in my own chamber...provided that they survive the challenges of my domain."

"That punch just now was just a test?" Knuckles almost yelled in disbelief. If a test were that crazy, then who knows what the real deal would be like.

"Of course. And you withstood it, bravo, guardian. I herby grant you permission to come see me at my own castle. Make your way through the Ancient Graveyard and head north until you see my lovely residence. We will do our battle there."

"Wait! Are you planning on running away?"

"How rude, guardian. I just want to enjoy our battle to my heart's content in the comfy of my own palace. That's all. Now then, I need to go and prepare my secret battle arena for our rumble, IF you manage to get there in one piece, of course."

Belphur then laughed maniacally before stomping the ground. The force generated when his foot made contact with the surface created an earthquake that sent pebbles, rocks, mud and sand flying everywhere, so Knuckles had to cover his eyes for a second. When everything calmed down, Knuckles opened his eyes again and saw that the giant immortal had disappeared, much to his charging.

"Just you wait, Belphur," said Knuckles as he looked at his hands briefly before clenching them tightly. "I'll defeat you and stop your madness."

Without another second's delay, the echidna headed north and began to navigate his way through the dreaded graveyard, trying to locate the god's castle.

* * *

**Alright, that's the first of the seven immortals of catastrophe. Further info on the villains, the colors of their cloaks represent their elements, so maybe you can try to guess the elements of the others.**

**Anyway, please tell me what you think about this chapter. Hopefully it's up to your standard. **

**Like I said, each character's stage is 3-chapter long, so stay tuned. Goodbye for the time being and once again, thank you for following my story. **


	9. Chapter 9 - Knuckles

**Hi everyone, sorry for the late update. It's exam week and it is long. I've been cramming like my life is on the life for the past few days. For that reason, I haven't been able to do much editing. Sorry about that.**

**Well, without further ado, here's the next chapter of Knuckles' stage. Enjoy.**

* * *

Ancient Graveyard – Act 2: The Undead's Playground

After leaving the first area, Knuckles headed north in an attempt to locate Belphur's castle. As he ran along the path, the echidna had to deal with nasty booby traps that had been cleverly set in various locations.

Sometimes, the statues he went across would begin to tilt when he was nearby and fell on him when he was directly next to it. Those statues looked like they weighted about more than ten tons each, a substantial weight that could easily crush almost anything. However, with his superhuman strength, Knuckles was able to smash them into tiny pieces of pebbles without even trying the moment they fell on his spiked fists.

"Falling statues, hah," said Knuckles as he smashed another statue coming his way with ease, "Is that all? Can't you come up with anything more, I don't know, original, bull head?" Knuckles yelled loudly at the empty space in front of him, hoping that his voice could reach the deity in question.

As soon as he finished that sentence, however, a horde of dark mutated bats that were almost as big as the echidna emerged from the shadows and charged at him. The deadly mutants of the night bared their fangs and aimed them at the guardian's neck, hoping for a one-hit kill.

Unfortunately for the bats, Knuckles, being an adventurer with ample experience that could be considered the best in his world, knew just how to get rid of them without wasting too much energy. From his first skirmish with Belphur, Knuckles knew more than enough that he was going to need all the strength he could muster to deal with the mighty god.

The echidna ducked and rolled out of the way to evade the bats' assaults at first. Before those creatures turned around and charged at him again, Knuckles inhaled deeply and held his breath for about ten seconds. A second later, he released the compressed air and roared at the top of his lung. His roar was so loud that it could, theoretically speaking, wake the dead from their eternal slumber just to cover their ears.

Upon hearing such a loud sound, the hostile bats immediately lost their balance and crashed into each other. A moment later, they immediately scattered and left Knuckles' field of vision for fear of the echidna's hyper voice, much to his delight.

"Hmph, this place is even easier than Eggman's last maze," said Knuckles as he continued on ahead.

…

After running for another fifteen minutes and overcoming more obstacles of the eerie graveyard, which included suddenly appearing totem poles from the ground, detaching parts of the emerging totem poles that exploded upon impact, spikes, bottomless pits, and more falling statues and boulders, the echidna finally arrived at another sector of the great graveyard.

"Man, how big is this stupid place anyway?" said Knuckles in a very irritated tone. He had been heading north the entire time for a reasonably long time, and yet he still couldn't see the sight of Belphur's castle anywhere.

"I suppose I will just have to carry on, don't I?" said the echidna exasperatedly as he bashed the skull of a mutant bat that was unfortunate enough to get caught. After a loud sigh, Knuckles picked up the pace and continued heading forward. He ran for another ten minutes before finally arriving at another empty yard. Knuckles looked around for potential ambushes, but to his relief, he found nothing that could be hostile. In fact, he found nothing at all. Therefore, the echidna promptly took a step forward.

…

However, the moment Knuckles' feet touched the ground, an earthquake occurred.

"What in the…" exclaimed Knuckles as he ducked down and knelled on the ground for a brief moment. A second later, the earthquake stopped as soon as it came and the guardian dusted himself off.

Knuckles was about to continue on with his journey, but he was stopped abruptly by the sudden appearance of a giant coffin popping out from the ground. The sheer size of the thing was big enough to completely block the path. Knuckles didn't even have time to process what had happened, for more trouble continued to appear, one after another. Seconds later, a dozen more appeared and completely filled the once deserted area.

Everywhere Knuckles looked, he could only see the giant coffins of different sizes, a sight to which he took no liking.

"I sense something unnatural," said Knuckles as he got into his stance. An ominous aura was filling the air, and he didn't like it one bit. _'If I think what these are for, then I'd better stay on alert.'_

Knuckles then began to carefully approach the coffin in front of him to examine it and see if he could break it. However, when he got close to his target, the coffin broke open on its own. An ivory figure emerged from the smoke and headed toward the guardian.

It was a skeleton of an anthromprphic creature about the same height as Knuckles, but the echidna couldn't even tell what kind of animal the creature before him was, or to be more precise, used to be. Immediately after breaking out from its resting place, the skeleton lunged at Knuckles with its hands outstretched and its mouth open, looking ready to gnaw the flesh out of the guardian.

"Great, now I have to deal with things that don't like to stay dead," said Knuckles irritably as he dodged the animated skeleton's scratch and returned the favor with a skull-crushing jab to its head, knocking it down instantly.

As soon as the first skeleton fell to the ground and broke into pieces, the other coffins broke open and a horde of animated skeletons emerged, much to Knuckles' irritation. To make matters worse, the echidna looked at the one whose head he had just smashed and found that it managed to reassemble itself and stand up like nothing had happened.

"Just great," said Knuckles at he dodged a series of attacks and retaliated with another jab, "These things can't lie down and die peacefully. Fine! Allow me to sedate all of you then." Knuckles growled as he cracked his fingers and charged at the incoming opponents.

The echidna moved around the place and used his superior speed to elude the stubborn creatures' restless attacks. Even though the opponents outnumbered him severely, Knuckles remained unfazed and attacked anything that dared to invade his personal space.

Despite the guardian's best efforts, the skeletons just kept on coming and coming, one after another. After a while, they even started picking up some of the swords and spears that had been buried around the area and made their way toward Knuckles, bent on making the lone guardian join them in the afterlife.

Needless to say, Knuckles could easily make short work of the simple-minded creatures. The skeletons' strength was worse than that of a normal human, but their real strength lied in their overwhelming number.

Additionally, due to their ability to magically reattach themselves after getting knocked down, Knuckles was having a very hard time advancing. No matter how many pieces he turned them into, no matter how powerful his attacks were, they just kept on coming back for more. Even with his infamous endurance and reflexes, Knuckles couldn't avoid every attack and ended up getting grazed every now and then.

'_Man, I'm stuck,'_ thought the echidna as he smashed another skull with his fists. _'If this is some sort of magic, then I need to find the source quickly before these puppets tire me out.'_

Knuckles skillfully dodged a spear thrust coming from his backside. He then grabbed the approaching skeleton by the hand and, without thinking, tossed it into a small nearby coffin. Due to the force of the impact, the skeleton was broken into pieces, and so was the coffin in question.

Out of the blue, one skeleton in the horde began to cry out in pain and doubled over, which captured the echidna's attention. Knuckles looked at it and saw a familiar dark aura escape the animated thing, and a moment later, the skeleton fell to the ground and stayed down for good.

"Got'cha!" Knuckles said with a smirk on his face.

With his objective locked, Knuckles set out to work. He picked up a number of spears on the ground and swung them at the approaching undead, sending bones and skulls flying in every direction, in order to clear a path toward the remaining coffins.

When he got close to one, the echidna tore it down with a single blow with his namesakes, negating the magic on a certain undead among the horde.

The process continued for a rather long time, mostly due to the skeleton's restless intervention and pursuit.

However, they didn't even hold a candle against someone like Knuckles, who simply used his superior strength to elude their clutches and took down the coffins controlling them. After about half an hour or possibly longer, Knuckles managed to significantly reduce the number of coffins and the number of undead in the area.

"Alright, time for the big finale," yelled the guardian as he jumped in the air and gathered his strength at his fists. A second later, a crimson blur swooped down and hammered his fists on the ground, creating an extraordinarily powerful shockwave that blew the remaining coffins and skeletons out of existence simultaneously.

After that blow, Knuckles allowed himself a short break to regain his strength.

Even though the skeletons were extremely weak and pathetic overall, they did manage to land a few lucky hits thanks to their sheer number and lack of fatigue. Knuckles turned around to check a few scratches on his shoulders and arms, but found that they were nothing more than flesh wounds and minor grazes.

"Okay, time to move on. I've wasted too much time at this place already."

With that, Knuckles headed to the open gate at the other side of the cemetery and continued to the new area.

…

Along the way, just like before, Knuckles had to overcome a variety of traps and challenges.

In addition to falling boulders, statues and spikes, this time, new traps made their appearances known. The new ones included rock walls that popped out from the ground to hinder Knuckles' progress, spiked ceilings that suddenly dropped whenever the echidna was inside a place with a roof, flying coffins that aimed at him at an incredible speed, and flipping flatforms over a cliff with solid ground on one side and deadly spikes on the other.

Despite the lethal properties of those traps, Knuckles still managed to respond to each and every one of them using his knowledge and experience as a treasure hunter as well as his natural athletic abilities.

With the falling rocks and statues, he simply charged head-on and smashed them to bits with well-timed jabs to their weak points. Against the rocks walls that tried to obstruct his path, Knuckles simple used the same tactic as the one he used to deal with the pesky falling rocks; reducing them to pebbles with his namesakes with no apparent difficulty.

As for the more lethal traps that he couldn't destroy with his strength alone like the spiked ceilings and flipping flatforms, Knuckles used his skills as an experienced adventurer to counteract.

For the spiked ceilings, he simply ducked and rolled out of harm's way as fast as he could and continued to do so until he was in the clear. Against the threat of the flipping flat forms, Knuckles used his innate ability to glide in the air to wait until they flipped around and revealed the solid ground to tread on.

Using his sharp instincts and superb athletic skills and reflexes, Knuckles managed to overcome all of the hazardous traps that blocked his path and continued his journey forward. However, it still took Knuckles quite a long time to get to the new area, due to the fact that the traps were all over the place and countering them required a lot of time and patience, which Knuckles unfortunately hardly had. In one instance, he had to suffer for it when a few spikes grazed his shoulders in his moment of haste.

Ignoring the minor flesh wounds he had sustained thus far, the echidna continued to press on and entered another area within the seemingly boundless graveyard.

…

Knuckles passed through another cemetery after fighting against another horde of undead skeletons. Unlike the first time, Knuckles made short work of his opponents, having already found out about their weakness. He destroyed his enemies in a few minutes and headed out of the area.

When the echidna arrived at the new area, which was on top of a molehill, he could clearly see his destination in sight. A few miles away from where he was standing, Knuckles could see an extremely old castle standing on top of another molehill faraway.

"There you are," exclaimed Knuckles excitedly, "Alright then, I've wasted too much time here already."

Knuckles then headed for the direction of Belphur's castle at a fast and steady pace.

...

All of the sudden, he was stopped in his track by a huge gate.

"Hmph, trying to keep me out, are you?" said Knuckles before he threw a mighty punch at the thing obstructing his progress. Much to the powerhouse echidna's surprise and irritation, the gate didn't even bulge after being hit by a force that pretty much equaled the one of being rammed into by a bullet train traveling at top speed.

"What in the name of Chaos is this thing stupid made of?" growled Knuckles in bewilderment and anger, for this was the second time his fists were stopped by an unknown substance. Trying to regain his composure, the guardian began to dart his eyes around to see if there were anything or any way around the sturdy gate. To his disappointment and dismay, Knuckles saw nothing useful in sight; the only things he could see were a giant statue, grass and tombstones.

Darting his eyes around one more time to make sure he had missed nothing of importance, Knuckles once again saw nothing that could help him get past the huge gate, but a closer look made him realize something he hadn't noticed before.

One of the slopes far at the back looked really suspicious. It was the only place that didn't have any grass on top. Curious, Knuckles carefully approached the slope and found that it wasn't a slope. Rather, it was a square switch.

"Maybe this thing could open that gate," muttered Knuckles under his breath and stepped on it to test his theory.

To his delight, as soon as Knuckles' weight weighted down on the switch, the indestructible gate flung open immediately and revealed a path forward.

"Bingo!" exclaimed the echidna in glee as a smirk crossed his face.

Knuckles stepped away from the switch and prepared to make his way through the gate. However, as soon as his weight vanished from the switch, it popped up again and made the gate close, making the echidna growl in irritation.

"Great, just great!" said Knuckles as he stepped on the switch again. "That bull head is starting to get on my nerves. First the necromancy thing, now this...Wait until I get my hands on you..." Knuckles continued his rambling until he forced his nerves to calm down.

'_Maybe I can run as fast as I can across the yard and through the gate before it closed,' _

Knuckles, eager to test his theory, stood on the switch again to make the gate open. He then inhaled deeply and got ready to run.

When he felt he was ready, the echidna left the spot and made a mad dash for the gate like his life depended on it. Unfortunately for him, the gate slammed shut in his face, making Knuckles ram straight into the thing and fell flat on the ground.

"Ouch, that hurt!" said Knuckles loudly as he massaged his nose. "Stupid gate! If only there were anything I can use to make the switch stay…down…"muttered the echidna as he saw the thing he had ignored; the lone statue in the area.

"Yes, that'll work."

With that, Knuckles grabbed the ten-ton stone statue and began to take it back to the switch. Little did the echidna know he was in for another troublesome situation the moment he lifted that weight up.

…

As soon as Knuckles lifted the statue from its position, a bunch of skeletons popped out from the ground, each equipped with sturdy armors and armed with a variety of lethal weapons. The worst thing about the situation; there was no coffin to destroy.

"Oh for the love of…" muttered Knuckles as he swung the heavy statue at the skeletons and smashed them to pieces.

Like last times, the undead reassembled their broken pieces and rose to their feet again. Knuckles had to keep moving the statues while dealing with the pesky monsters on his tail. This time, some of they even sported bows and arrow guns for long-range support, much to the echidna's charging.

Putting the statue down for a while, Knuckles smashed the ground with his fists and made some big boulder fly up to his level. Using his strength, Knuckles punched those boulders and sent them flying right at the long-ranged skeletons and knocked them out, giving himself some precious time to complete his objective.

Not wasting a second, the echidna picked up the statue again and began swinging it around without regard for what was in his way. At least in this dimension, he could go all out without being charged for the destruction of public properties. Needless to say, the close-ranged and medium-ranged skeletons didn't even manage to get close to the rampaging guardian.

Continuing to use the statue as a giant baseball bat, Knuckles steadily made his way toward the switch while dodging the arrows shot at him. It was a hard task, but thanks to his strength and unwavering determination, he managed to reach his target a few minutes and put the statue down on the switch.

The moment the weight of the stone sculpture landed on the switch, the skeletons instantly died and the giant gate flung open, allowing Knuckles to get through.

"Well, that takes care of that," said Knuckles with an audible sigh. "Well then, time for my appointment with a certain minotaur in that castle."

With that, the echidna quickly ran through the open gate and made his way for Belphur's ancient castle on the following hill just miles ahead.

* * *

**Well, that's it for the this chapter. Once again, I'm sorry for the long wait. I'll probably be busy for the rest of this week and next week, so the boss battle may take a while. I'll put it up as soon as my exams are over. Thank you for your patience.**

**Stay tuned. :)**


	10. Chapter 10 - Knuckles

**Hello, I'm back. So sorry for the long wait. I still have two more exams to sit, but they are scheduled for next week. I finally had some down time to do some editing and continue with my story. **

**Here it is, Knuckles' boss battle. Since this is the first time I have written this kind of battle (long and tiring), I don't know whether it's good or not. Therefore, please read and tell me how I can improve on the next boss battles. Thank you. Also, please read the notes at the end of the chapter.**

**Now then, without further delay, here's the battle. Enjoy. :) **

Ancient Graveyard – Act 3: Belphur of the Immovable Soils

After overcoming all of the obstacles and sending the animated skeletons back to their tombs, Knuckles finally arrived at Belphur's castle.

The echidna looked at the giant construct in awe. It was very old, possibly as old as or even older than the graveyard he had just passed. However, Knuckles wasn't here to admire the ancient architecture of marvel nor was he here looking for buried treasures of the ancient, he was here to stop one of the raging gods from wiping the worlds out of existence.

"Alright, bull head," yelled Knuckles as he made his way toward the gate, "Here I come." The echidna then threw a powerful punch and sent the giant gates blocking his path flying into the castle's hall.

…

The inside of the ancient place wasn't much better than its exterior, if not even worse. To put it simply, it looked like it hadn't been cleaned for millennia, _'which is probably the case'_ thought Knuckles in disgust as he slowly walked past the various webs and dusty antiques to the middle of the spacious chamber.

"Now where am I supposed to find Belphur?" muttered the echidna quietly as he darted his eyes around and scanned the room. There was nothing in sight, no door, no window, no staircase, nothing except for some furniture and worn pictures decorating the lonely space.

Knuckles was about to yell out for Belphur to appear and face him directly, but before he could manage that, a problem occurred. All of the sudden, the entire ground beneath Knuckles' feet began to crack, much to the echidna's surprise and utter dismay.

To make matter worse, the gate that he had just knocked open magically flew back in their original position and shut the lone echidna in the room. Soon, the entire place began to shake more and more violently. After a few seconds had passed, the floor beneath the guardian's feet collapsed, taking him down with it.

"Another trap, huh?" said Knuckles with an exasperated tone, clearly having grown tired of the deity's annoying and truthfully futile attempts at his life. He looked down at the pit was currently falling down and saw nothing but impending darkness. Despite his infamous reputation of being extremely strong and resilient, falling from that height could very well spell end for him, and Knuckles wasn't about to test that theory.

"This is starting to get on my nerves" said Knuckles as he hopped on top of a falling boulder nearby and balanced himself. After that, the echidna began to make his way down by jumping on and off the other falling boulders and slowly but steadily made his way down the pit.

The ordeal was rather long, too long for the guardian's limited patience. It took about fifteen minutes of nonstop hopping before Knuckles could see the rocky surface below again. When he was close to the ground, the echidna jumped off the boulder he was on and began to glide down with ease.

Right after landing safe and sound, the echidna quickly and immediately dashed forward and rolled out of the way to avoid being crushed by the rain of falling boulders.

…

Once that was done, Knuckles looked around to survey the new area and realized that he was inside a stone cave of some sort. The only sources of light inside the darkness-filled place came from the occasional torches hung along the rocky walls. Also, there was only one way to advance, and the amethyst-eyed guardian knew exactly what that meant.

"An invitation, huh?" Knuckles muttered to himself as he grabbed a torch and continued on with the last part of his treacherous journey.

The walk inside the cave was rather easy compared to the various nasty surprises on the surface that he had had to endure. All Knuckles had to do was watch his head and his footing to make sure he didn't get hit by some rocks and fall down occasional trap holes that undoubtedly had spikes at the bottom.

The walk went on for a reasonably long time before the echidna finally arrived at a giant, elaborately-carved rock gate with strange carvings and writings on it. There was also a place to hang his torch, so the echidna put the light source there and prepared to open the seemingly heavy entrance.

He soon found out that his preparation for a demolition was not necessary, much to his annoyance, for as soon as the torch landed on its intended position, the entire cave began to shake and the obstacle obstructing his advance opened on its own, inviting the guardian in for his confrontation with the lord of the dimension.

"_Alright then, time to finish what I started_," thought Knuckles as he cracked his fingers and warmed up before heading through the newly opened path before him. The echidna was physically and mentally prepared to face and take on the giant god of this domain.

…

After walking for a little while longer, Knuckles found himself at a spacious battle arena specifically prepared for him. In the middle of the arena, the mighty and sturdy deity Belphur stood still, with his hands crossed and eyes closed, patiently waiting for his guest's arrival.

As soon as the sound Knuckles' footsteps stopped in front of him, the deity opened his eyes and looked at the echidna with a satisfied grin splitting his huge face.

"I see that you've managed to make it this far," said the god as he uncrossed his hands and cracked his giant fingers, "You took longer than I thought you would, however, guardian."

"Yeah, sorry to disappoint you, Belphur," said Knuckles with a tone filled with sarcasm and contempt as he stepped closer to the giant being before him, "But I'm not here to seek your approval. I'm here to kick your butt…hard."

The god suddenly burst out laughing. Just his laughter was strong enough to make the entire cave shake violently and the earth rumble restlessly. However, Knuckles, having learned beforehand just how powerful the minotaur-like creature was from his test punch, stood still and tried to appear unimpressed at the minotaur's attempt to appear intimidating.

"Very well then, tiny mortal. If you think you can best me, Belphur of the Immovable Soils - the physically strongest among the seven gods, in strength… come and prove it."

With that, Belphur stomped the ground hard and got into his battle stance, ready to thoroughly slaughter his challenger. On the other side, Knuckles did the same, feeling himself more than ready to face the depraved being before him.

…

The battle between the two powerhouse members of two opposing teams ensued.

As soon as the last words of taunt left the deity's mouth, Knuckles lunged at him at an impressive speed. The echidna then delivered a rock-smashing jab into the giant creature's hardened abdomen, making Belphur crouch a little, but otherwise perfectly unharmed and unfazed by the guardian's brute force.

"Heh, a little better than the last ones you threw," said Belphur with an amused grin on his face, "but still not good enough, guardian."

In one swift motion, Belphur backhanded Knuckles and sent him flying toward the rock wall behind him with a loud thud. Despite his large frame, the deity was much faster than Knuckles had given him credit for. The attack completely took Knuckles by surprise and thus, he wasn't able to react quickly enough.

The wounded echidna got to his feet and massaged his shoulder briefly to somewhat ease the pain. That one hit had done a number on him, but he wasn't about to give up after that blow.

Once again, Knuckles lunged himself forward and unleashed a series of punches and jabs at the powerful opponent. The echidna attacked everywhere he could reach; the god's chest, arms, shoulders, legs, stomach in search f a weak point, only to find that his attacks didn't even manage to make the giant flinch in the slightest.

"And I thought you would provide me with a decent challenge," said Belphur with a shake of his head as he stood still and endured the echidna's furious rain of punches thrown at him. After a while, Knuckles jumped back and tried to catch his breath. Needless to say, the guardian was stunned that his attacks didn't even leave a mark on the being before him.

'_Does this guy even have a weak point?_' thought the guardian bitterly as e kept his eyes on his giant adversary, not wanting to get knocked out by a sudden attack.

However, Belphur, not allowing Knuckles a moment of rest, jumped at his opponent in an attempt to crush him with his huge frame, but the echidna managed to get away with relative ease.

Even though Knuckles managed to avoid instant doom by being crushed, he was not in the clear just yet. The force of Belphur's weight hitting the ground generated a huge shockwave powerful enough to sweep across the battle arena, making Knuckles lose balance for a little while.

Unfortunately for the trapped hero, 'losing balance for a while' in the presence of a monster like Belphur equaled 'letting your guard down', and the deity quickly used that to his advantage.

The giant menace slammed his fist on the ground and summoned a column of enormous earth spikes that headed straight for Knuckles.

Seeing the incoming objects, the echidna quickly rolled out of the way, but not before getting grazed by one of the conjured spikes due to not having reacted quickly enough.

Ignoring the minor pain on his shoulder, Knuckles once again lunged at Belphur for another attempt. Because of his previous attack, Belphur had to crouch down so that he could touch the earth with his bare fist, and thus he wasn't able to stand up fast enough, allowing Knuckles to get in for another series of attacks.

Using his incredible speed, Knuckles instantly got close to Belphur, avoided his other fist, and stepped on the minotaur's knee. Using the knee as a stepping stone to reach the deity's head, Knuckles tried attacking the places where he couldn't reach before.

When he was within range, he threw a mighty punch at the god's unguarded face. Unfortunately for Knuckles, Belphur managed to dodge the attack with no apparent difficulty by simply tilting his head to one side.

'_What?'_ Knuckles thought as his punch was dodged.

The powerful creature then used his horns in an attempt to impale the echidna to death, but the latter quickly glided in the air and jumped back before the horns hit him.

…

After dodging Belphur's horn attack, Knuckles jumped back and created some distance between him and the menacing creature. Not one to rest, Belphur used his mystical powers over earth to summon gigantic boulders and sent them flying at the echidna at an incredible pace.

'_That was strange'_ thought Knuckles curiously as he tried his best to dodge and destroy the barrage of incoming projectiles thrown his way. _'Since this battle began, Belphur hasn't even attempted to dodge any of my punches, but he did that just now…when I aimed at his face…'_

With a devilish smirk slowly forming on his muzzle, Knuckles jumped on top of the incoming boulders in quick succession in order to reach the giant Minotaur once again.

"You want to die that badly, guardian? Or are simply testing how much luck you have left before it finally runs out?" asked Belphur gleefully as he threw another one of his notoriously deadly punches at Knuckles when the latter was within range. The echidna, however, managed to dodge the attack using his glide ability to stay afloat. With said ability, the echidna also avoided Belphur's other fist and came face-to-face with the god a moment later.

"Got you now, beast," yelled Knuckles as he sunk his spiked namesakes onto the deity's face, causing him to roar loudly in sheer agony. The force of the echidna's attack also made the giant lose his balance and forced him to take a few steps backward, roaring loudly all the while.

'_I was right!'_ thought Knuckles with a gleeful smirk on his face, which was even bigger than the last. The echidna then attempted to capitalize the moment to launch another attack, but the god beat him to the punch, literally.

Belphur managed to recover himself from the initial shock and threw another punch at the still airborne echidna. Even though Knuckles was able to guard himself by crossing his arms in front of his chest, the force that single punch once again sent him flying toward the rock wall far away, this time smashing it to bits.

…

"How…" asked Belphur in surprise as he looked at the injured Knuckles, who was struggling to get to his feet once again, "How did you know…"

"Where to hit you?" asked Knuckles with a smirk, "When I attacked your body, you just stood still and took everything without so much as flinching. However, when I was about to hit your face a few minutes earlier, you dodged **on purpose**. That means you don't want to be hit in that spot, and that also means it could be your weakness. It was merely a speculation at first, but it seemed it was proven true after all."

"But you couldn't…"

"But I couldn't be sure, right? The echidna intentionally interrupted the deity once again, "That's why I threw a 'test punch' just now to see whether or not my discovery was spot on."

"STOP INTERUPPTING ME!" roared the irritated deity, clearly tired of being interrupted repeatedly by Knuckles, who seemed to enjoy the deity's sudden outburst.

"Now do you see how annoying you are, beast?" asked Knuckles with a chuckle, amused by the god's reaction to his own game.

Belphur stood still, thinking for a moment, but he then calmed down and laughed like a man who had forfeited his sanity in favor of madness.

"You are better than I thought, guardian. This is the first time I've ever been hurt in direct confrontation, and by the fist of a mortal no less…However, that doesn't mean you're going to win this battle."

Without saying anything else, Belphur raised his hands and summoned two giant earth hands next to Knuckles' position. Before the echidna could react, the deity clasped his palms together and made the newly-conjured earth hands do the same, smashing the trapped victim in the middle.

With million thanks to his legendary strength and resilience, Knuckles managed keep the two rock hands apart the moment they came together and narrowly avoided being turned into a pancake. However, he was completely vulnerable to the deity's next attacks in his current predicament.

Before Knuckles could think of a way out of his unfavorable situation, Belphur emerged right in front of him and attacked with an extraordinarily powerful uppercut, one that the deity seemed to have poured even more power into. The force of that uppercut destroyed the giant earth hands and sent the echidna flying upward.

Not wasting a second, the minotaur-like god leaped into the air as well, following the dazed echidna.

Knuckles groaned in pain and tried to force his eyes open, only to find that he was in mid-air. The force of Belphur's last attack had seriously done a number on his smaller frame. In fact, a normal being with average strength like Sonic or Tails would have had their insides instantly crushed by that strike.

Looking down, Knuckles saw that, to his absolute horror, Belphur's sharp horns were pointing right at him. Ignoring the excruciating and almost unbearable pain coming from his stomach, the echidna instantly glided back and dodged the deadly horns in the nick of time. Capitalizing the opportunity of being in mid-air, the guardian approached Belphur with his ability and then threw another series of punches directly at Belphur's face, inflicting a considerable amount of damage to him.

…

It was a reasonably long while after a ruthless and thunderous exchange of fists in mid-air between two beings that knew nothing about backing down that the echidna clasped his namesakes together and hammered the giant god on the back of his head with all his might and sent him flying toward the ground with a mighty collision that cracked the millennia-old rocky surface.

Before Belphur could recover from the attack, Knuckles capitalized and sent all of his strength into his spiked fists and let gravity take him down to increase the power of his next strike.

Due to being slightly dazed from the high fall he had endured as well as the sheer size of his structure, Belphur wasn't able to get up just yet. When he did manage to open his eyes to see, the sight that he saw was that of a crimson blur heading straight for him with his fists outstretched.

Unable to react quickly enough to the sudden maneuver, the grounded god was hit by the full force of the echidna's attack, which only helped to further the destruction of the battle arena.

Using what was left of his strength, Knuckles forced his body to get up and landed on top of Belphur's torso. Once there, he unleashed another series of punches at the fallen giant's face, dishing out as much damage as he possibly could in his current condition.

Even when he was completely blinded by the guardian's restless assaults, Belphur still managed to get it together and knocked Knuckles off his broad chest by summoning a giant boulder with his magic and commanding it to ram squarely at the echidna's backside, making him yelp in pure agony when the rock hit and sent him flying a few feet away from his opponent.

…

Groggily standing up, Belphur and Knuckles got into their respective battle stances again, ready for each other's next attacks.

"You're still standing? Well done, guardian," said Belphur as he looked at Knuckles right in the eyes with an amused and delighted smirk on his face. It had been a while since he last had such a heated fight with someone that could take a lot of punishments from him and still manage to get up for more. Needless to say, the embodiment of earth and strength was ecstatic, not that he would admit it to the echidna anytime soon.

"I still have enough strength to finish you off, Belphur!"

The god snorted and laughed loudly, both amused and intrigued by the echidna's bold words for someone in his current situation.

"Alright then, I'll finish you off with my next attack, guardian."

"Oh yeah? Try me!"

With that, the two powerhouses charged at each other and launched a punch at each other. The shockwave created by the collision of the two fists sent the two fighters back. Also, the force created by the two connecting strikes was powerful enough to shake the entire place and made the battle arena collapse, much to Knuckles' dismay and Bephur's annoyance.

…

"Hmm, this entire place is going to come down soon," said Belphur as he inspected the current condition of the battle arena, which was starting to crack and shake violently after the last tremor created by both parties involved. The walls around the arena were starting to break apart.

"Who in their right mind would put a battle arena underground while knowing full well it could collapse at any given moment anyway?" yelled Knuckles in exasperation as he struggled to maintain his balance against the ensuing violent earthquake.

"This battle arena is capable of withstanding my strength, but I guess it's not strong enough to withstand both our strength at the same time. Though it's such a shame to leave things unfinished, I don't think our battle can reach a conclusion at the moment," replied the deity, completely ignoring the echidna's rude remark, "I'll say it's a draw."

"Not yet, I can still fight, Belphur. And I can still kick your butt right here, right now if I want to."

"Amusing! But like I said, this place is coming down as we speak, so I'll give you a choice, guardian. Either you stay here and continue your struggle against me, only to get crushed by the falling cave in the end, or we can get out of this place and finish our battle next time we encounter."

Knuckles stood still and contemplated his options for a moment. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but Belphur was right. It would do him no good to continue the fight and die as a result. He still had other duties to tend to back in his world, and he wasn't about to throw his life away so meaninglessly and needlessly like this.

"Fine," growled the irritated echidna, "We'll finish this battle later. Next time, I will defeat you without fail, Bull Head."

Belphur simply smirked in amusement at his opponent's remark and summoned two portals with his magic, one behind himself and the other behind Knuckles.

"That's your way out, guardian. Next time we meet, we will fight to our heart's content. And I will annihilate you completely."

With that the god disappeared through the portal and got out of the collapsing cave.

"Yeah, next time…" muttered Knuckles softly before jumping through his portal, teleporting himself out of the battle arena in the nick of time and got back to the Forbidden Island.

A second after the two combatants had left the scene, the entire cave collapsed completely, and so did Belphur's castle on the surface world.

…

At another place…

Belphur reappeared in a dark chamber somewhere on the Forbidden Island and sat down on one of the thrones around a round table. The god was lost in his own thoughts about Knuckles and his ability to match his strength in battle.

"Finally, a decent challenge…" muttered the deity, completely unaware of the presence of a cloaked figure behind him.

"It's ages since I last saw you acknowledged someone as your worthy opponent, Belphur."

"Arzazel…Well, that echidna managed to survive my tests, my punches and even me in battle. He may be the one I've been searching for all this time; an individual powerful enough to make me go all out and fight at full strength…"

"While I am pleased that you seem to be enjoying your game with the guardian from a different world, I must remind you that we have an objective to carry out."

"Of course I remember. I'll get back to that after I have had my fun with that echidna. After all these years, all these generations, my wish may come true after all."

Belphur then stood up and disappeared in the shadows, leaving the leader of the fallen gods behind to muse about the entire situation.

"These mortals are fascinating, yet dangerous to our…to **my** grand design."

A moment later, Arzazel opened a portal and stepped through it, teleporting himself out of the dark chamber.

**Alright, since Knuckles' chapter is over, we can now enter Character Select Mode again. As usual, the first person, excluding ABCSonicKirbyWarriors (you already chose Knuckles already, so please let other people make their pick. Thank you for your support btw :)) Alright, that's all.**

**Once again, thank you everyone for reading my story and your time. Have a good day. :) **


	11. Chapter 11 - Tails

**So, I see the fastest one this time was werewolf lover99 and he picked Tails. Lovely! Okay, I will stick to my word and give you the adventure of the cute, lovable two-tailed genius of the group. **

**Well, Tails' stage is a little simple in design, actually. It basically involves him running for his life from start to finish, and that's pretty much it. Alright, without further ado, here you go, the first part of Tails' stage.**

* * *

Frozen Wonderland – Act 1

It took a few seconds for Tails to clear his blurry vision after stepping through his chosen portal. When he was able to see clearly, the fox carefully scanned his surroundings.

The place Tails had arrived at was a vast frozen wasteland that seemed to be uninhabitable. There were icebergs and frozen mountains everywhere in sight, and the ground looked like it was covered by a seemingly thick layer of ice. There were also a few cracks on its surface. It was also rather cold, but thanks to his thick fur, the fox remained relatively warm, but he still shivered ever so slightly at the unearthly temperature.

Snapping out of his trance, Tails began to walk around and explore the unfamiliar landscape, all the while darting his eyes in every direction in case the enemy decided to show up and surprise him.

"This place looked and felt like Ice Cap Zone, only twice as cold," said Tails as he shivered slightly and wrapped both his arms and tails around his body for extra heat. The poor fox would have been frozen solid if it hadn't been for his thick golden fur and his eternally reliable namesakes.

Tails promptly took another step forward. However, as soon as his feet touched the ground this time, he heard a cracking noise, which prompted the cautious fox to look down. A sound like that in a frozen region was never a good sign. Although in his genius mind, he had vaguely figured out what had happened, Tails needed to make sure and sincerely hoped that for ne in his life, he was wrong.

Unfortunately, his correct streak continued as the fox's logical guest was proven true by what he saw. The crack was a result of his weight pressing on the ice, which was not as thick as it initially appeared.

The crack soon spread and the entire layer of ice collapsed under Tails' feet a second later, much to the young genius' dismay and charging. The collapsed layer of ice revealed an ocean beneath the surface.

Thanks to his natural ability to fly, Tails managed to avoid falling into the freezing water by taking to the sky using his namesakes the moment the ground gave in to his weight, which was not very much.

"Phew, that was close," said Tails as he quickly scanned and flew toward a more stable spot, far away from the frozen ocean.

…

Tails landed soon after, having located somewhere that he considered to be relatively safer. The fox, now on the ground, took another look around to see if there was any hint or landmark that could provide him with any kind of information on how to find the deity in charge of the place. To his dismay and annoyance, however, he found nothing useful.

"Where am I supposed to go? There is nothing in this wasteland but ice, snow, ice, ocean, snow and even more ice" Tails said exasperatedly as he whipped his head around.

However, stubbornness and patience were pretty much in his genes, so Tails was not about to give up the search just yet. The fox once again took to the air and began to scan the area from above, hoping to get a better view of the landscape from there. This time, much to his delight, the young inventor found something that could be seen as the clue he had been searching for.

North of his location was a mountain trail covered by a heap of snow, which he wasn't able to see while standing on the ground. The trail seemed to lead all the way to the top of the mountain. Despite the mountain's great height, Tails could see some very huge and beautifully sculptured ice towers on the other side of the mountain.

"Maybe I'll find something there," said Tails cheerfully as he landed nimbly on his feet and began to make a beeline for the newly discovered mountain trail.

…

A few moments later, Tails arrived at a huge pile of snow that wholly covered the entrance to the mountain trail. Once again, he took to the air and quickly flew over the heap of snow to enter the trail.

"Something here gives me the creeps," said Tails under his breath as he felt a chill running up and down his spine and shivered slightly when looking at the cold and isolated trail in front of him. One avalanche and the fox would be a goner. Upon closer inspection, Tails concluded that the valley was too high for him to fly over in time to escape should an avalanche occur.

"Must be the frigid wind," Tails happily muttered in an attempt to calm his nerbes. After that, the fox began to make his way up the mountain trail.

However, fate had another plan for the lone fox. As soon as he took his first step, the earth began to shake violently, which was a bad sign, especially in Tails' case.

"Uh oh," muttered the scared fox as he struggled to keep his balance.

All of the sudden, a giant icicle the size of a skyscraper popped up from the spot right behind the stunned fox, barely missing his back by an inch. Needless to say the sudden turn of events scared Tails half to death and made him stumble forward in an attempt to get away from the pointy icicle.

"What in the name of…"

Before Tails could finish that sentence, another giant icicle pooped out from the ground, once again surprising the fox and prompting him to stop talking to himself and start running.

Tails, having realized that the entire trail was a giant trap and that there was no turning back, began to make a mad dash forward, using his namesakes to gain a great boost in speed. As the fox picked up the pace, more and more deadly icicles continued to emerge behind him and started to catch up.

The next half an hour later involved Tails trying his best to outrun the deadly icicles popping out from the ground behind him while making his way up the mountain at a breakneck speed, one that he was used to thanks to his many years spent with the fastest thing alive.

In addition to the emerging giant icicles, there were other things that helped make matters worse for the young genius. Not only did he have to avoid being impaled to death, Tails also had to dodge a variety of obstacles in his path, ranging from being mostly harmless to downright lethal. The obstacles included occasional snow slopes, smaller but equally deadly icicles that flew at him, and falling blocks of ice.

Thanks to his lightning-quick reflexes, Tails had no difficulty in evading the snow slopes, but he did encounter some trouble when dealing with the more dangerous traps. The small icicles would suddenly shoot out from the ground or from the sides, making it hard to predict where they would come from. However, Tails used every trick he had learned from Sonic to avoid them.

When the fox realized that the pointy booby traps were about to shoot out from the ground and headed toward him, he took to the air and dodged them. When the same obstacles popped out from the two sides, he used his spin dash attack, making himself a smaller target for the incoming icicles while gaining an extra boost in speed.

Against the falling blocks of ice, Tails had to be faster than ever. The giant blocks would, from time to time, fall down from the sky and blocked the fox's path, but they tended to leave a very small space for him to pass through. However, Tails could only fit through by curling into a small ball and dashed through the tiny openings, which were positioned differently each time. It didn't exactly help make things any less stressful when the fox was still busy running away from the instant death trap behind him at full speed.

Tails had taken into consideration the use of his bombs to open up a path, but he dismissed the idea as soon as it occurred to him.

'_Yeah right, like I need an avalanche on top of this madness'_ Tails thought as he kept his eyes peeled and quickly located the escape space on the latest ice block and spin dashed through it.

…

Halfway through the course, the obstacles became more and more dangerous. This time, new ones appeared, including pointy ice spikes stuck on the ground and on the walls, ice walls which Tails had to break down to continue by using his namesakes, and sharp turns.

During his entire run, Tails never checked how much distance he had managed to place between himself and the skyscraper-sized icicles behind him. However, the fox learned from listening alone that the deadly icicles were actually gaining on him, something that dreaded him greatly. Tails knew full well that he couldn't turn his head around to check his back, because the moment he did that, he would surely be hit by one of the aforementioned obstacles in front of him, and that would slow him down. In this dreadful condition, slowing down for a split second was the same as resigning to one's fate.

Tails shuddered at that thought and shivered slightly, but he soon gained his composure back and focused on getting himself out of this mess.

To make sure that worst-case scenario wouldn't happen, Tails kept his eyes on the treacherous road In front of him and responded quickly to any obstacle that obstructed his advent. Thanks to his trainings and 'jogs' with Sonic and Knuckles, Tails managed to quickly evade all the obstacles he came across with all the tricks he had, including side stepping repeatedly and tearing down the ice walls with his Tails Swipe technique.

…

The run was as nerve-wrecking as it was long. However, with sheer determination to make it out alive, Tails continued to spin his namesakes and dash forward.

After an extremely long and stressful run, Tails finally saw the peak of the mountain, something that made the fox smile excitedly with happiness and relief.

"Yes, I'm almost there," exclaimed Tails with glee as he picked up the pace, trying to distance himself from the lethal icicles behind.

When Tails was near the top, one final obstacle appeared. Much to the fox's dismay, he saw two giant pieces of ice that made up two halves of one giant gate begin to close up.

"No, I must get through that gate. Otherwise, I'm doomed," said Tails as he leaped up and took to the air. With everything he had, Tails flew right at the disappearing space between the two giant glaciers. He knew he was racing against time, and he also knew that he would have to pull out all the stop to beat the clock.

With unwavering determination and concentration, Tails managed to fly through the giant ice gate in the nick of time, barely making it. A split second later, the giant gate closed up completely, blocking the path behind Tails. When he was safe, Tails could hear the sound of the icicles colliding with the gate and sighed loudly in relief.

The fox, due to all the speed he had gained from the beginning of the run, couldn't brake and landed face-first on the ground. However, thanks to the thick blanket of snow covering the hard surface, he was perfectly unharmed, but that didn't mean he enjoyed getting a mouthful of snow.

"T-This p-p-place i-i-is crazy c-c-cold…Achoo!" said Tails as he shivered visibly and quickly to shook the cold snow off his body.

…

Once the snow had been shaken off, Tails turned around and examined the giant ice gate behind him. It looked really impressive. On its surface, Tails could see carvings that looked like a giant dragon emerging from the ocean to terrorize a city. That picture was a very detailed and accurate drawing of the same monstrosity that he had blinded a while ago. Tails continued to admire the carvings for a little longer before looking at the ground lost in his own thoughts.

"This place is a frozen wasteland…all the obstacles and traps are ice-based…" said Tails quietly, having come up with a general idea of whom he would have to face in this dimension, "So that means I have to fight against the god called Livyath, the one that froze Southern Island in an instant…"

Tails gulped and shivered again, this time not from the call, but from the thought of having to face an opponent that could easily devour him in one go. Last time, he had managed to land a hit by taking the god by surprise, so he doubted the deity would fall for the same trick.

'_I've come this far, there's no point getting cold feet now'_ thought the fox as he tried to motivate himself. _'I will help my friends by completing my task.'_

After that, Tails turned around scanned the area and saw that he was on the top of the mountain. From where he was standing, Tails could see the entire dimension. Everywhere was the same color of blue and white that stretched to the horizon and possibly beyond.

Also from where Tails was, he could clearly see that a giant construction made completely out of ice. It bore a lot of similarities to the famed Coliseum and was located at the foot of the mountain. Tails instantly recognized the four towers surrounding the magnificent construction of marvel. Those towers on the sides of the coliseum were higher than the mountain itself, and they were also the same things that Tails had seen at the beginning of his journey.

"_Now that looks like a place that gigantic sea dragon can fit,"_ Tails thought before he prepared to make for his new-found destination ahead. After calming his racing heart down with a few breathing exercises, Tails began to descend the mountain.

Little did he know that the way down was not very different from the way up, if not even deadlier.

* * *

**As usual, reviews are greatly appreciated and valued. Flames are also welcome (I have my extinguisher right here :)). **

**The second part will be up as soon as possible. So stay tuned. :)**


	12. Chapter 12 - Tails

**Hello, I'm back in business. All of my exams are over and done with, so I will have a lot of free time for about a month before the new semester begins. That also means more time to write and edit my chapters. Hopefully, I'll be able to complete the story before school starts again.**

**Anyway, here is the next part of Tails' stage. I really hope you'll enjoy it. Feedback and flames are welcome as always. :)**

* * *

Frozen Wonderland – Act 2

When Tails began to make his way toward the grand coliseum at the foot of the mountain, he heard a rumbling sound and felt the earth shake violently. On a high mountain covered by snow, the combination of those two occurrences is never a good thing.

"This can't be good," said Tails as he tried desperately to keep his balance. The last thing he wanted was to lose his footing on this steep terrain and arrive at his destination as a huge snow ball. The risk of severe hypothermia was very high should that happen for real.

Tails breathed a sigh of relief when the earthquake ceased a moment later, but he really didn't have a chance to relax just yet. The saying 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' perfectly described the fox's current predicament as he ran into another problem, one that involved him running for dear life once again, much to his dismay.

Due to the strong earthquake, the snow on the peak began to flow down where the unfortunate fox was standing. Soon the flow of snow increased in speed and power, and a moment later, it turned into an extremely huge avalanche that rushed down the mountain trail. The sight of the snowslide alone was more than enough incentive for the fox to pick up the pace and run at his top speed down the steep terrain.

'_Why me?'_ thought Tails begrudgingly as he tried his best to create a distance between himself and the deadly avalanche, which was already gaining on him despite his speed.

Tails spun his namesakes quickly to gain more speed and slowly lift himself off the ground. Running down a steep hill was not a wise move in every sense and Tails knew that for a fact. The ground was extremely slippery, and one unfortunate slip in this situation would mean certain doom for the young fox.

The path downhill was even more treacherous than the one going uphill. The avalanche was bad, but there were other things that made Tails' plight worse.

The way down was also filled with numerous kinds of traps, including the ones Tails had already encountered before. However, this time the slopes were much bigger and the blocks were more frequent than before.

The ice spikes would also shoot from the ground or from the walls at a very random pace; the thick ice walls would sometimes form magically and hamper the fox's progress, but Tails always managed to get past them before they closed completely; in addition, the giant boulders of ice would fall from the sky from time to time crushing everything it came into contact with.

All of the obstacles appeared unexpectedly in Tails' path, but he always managed to evade everything that obstructed his advent with millions thanks to his superior acrobatic skills, instincts and quick reflexes.

Even so, Tails did not escape everything completely unscratched. Due to the suddenness and randomness of the deadly ice spikes, Tails was grazed more than once by the pointy tips, leaving him with some marks and a few minor cuts on his fur, but Tails promptly ignored the pain, deeming them unworthy of his attention for the time being.

'_Compared to minor flesh wounds, focusing on getting out of this mess alive is a bazillion times more important right now'_ he thought.

As he had done with the gigantic icicles during his most recent run, Tails didn't dare to turn his head around to watch how far away he was from the approaching avalanche. He instead kept his eyes peeled on the road ahead and concentrated solely on avoiding the dangerous booby traps.

…

After running for a reasonably long time, Tails was suddenly met with an unexpected and very sharp curve. Owing to the relatively small size of the valley and his current speed, Tails, in a speed of light, quickly did some calculations in his head and concluded that he couldn't make a drift or a turn in time, so he was left with no choice but to improvise.

When Tails almost reached the curve, the fox immediately leaped forward and put his feet squarely on the wall. Then he stretched his legs and sprinted from his position. The maneuver effectively pushed the fox into the new path, without the need of making a turn and also gaining a small boost in speed, all in one simple well-timed motion.

Thanks to the sharp curve, the force of the avalanche weakened somewhat when the snowslide hit the high wall, but it was still chasing after Tails, and it was still as deadly.

"Alright, I'm almost there, I hope" muttered Tails to himself as he picked up the pace even more, flying faster while still being mindful about the sudden obstacles ahead.

…

After a really long and extremely stressful run, Tails finally saw, to his delight and joy, the same gates of the coliseum-like structure and smiled excitedly.

"Yes, I'm almost there," exclaimed the genius fox before speeding up even more, trying his best to get away from the lethal phenomenon behind him.

The joy was soon wiped from Tails' face a second later, for out of the blue, a giant lump of ice the size of a mansion was shot from the construction of marvel and flew at him.

Overcoming the initial surprise at the sudden appearance of the glacier, Tails,thanks to his training with Sonic, performed a baseball slide and successfully made it past the large object, albeit narrowly.

'_What in the name of Chaos was that?'_ Tails thought as he panted heavily from the adrenaline.

Unexpectedly, the clear sky darkened and a hail occurred a moment later. A torrent of hailstones rained down on the poor fox, resulting in the creation of even more obstacles in his path, and there was still the threat of the lethal avalanche behind him.

"Can this get any worse?" said Tails quietly but indignantly, clearly not enjoying racing for his life against all of the deadly phenomena, which were anything but natural within this domain.

Tails managed to avoid most of the big falling hailstones, but he still sustained some damage in the form of minor bruises on his body caused by the smaller ones.

...

After another long and tiring run, Tails finally arrived at the exit. However, much like last time, he was once again faced with the giant ice gates that slowly began to close up when the fox was in near.

"No way I'm losing to that" Tails muttered with a determined look on his face.

The fox then sped up even more and shot himself through the giant ice blocks just before they closed off completely. The gates also stopped the avalanche in its track and prevented it from passing through. Needless to say, Tails was truly grateful for that. The hail, on the other hand, continued to rain down upon the fox, and it showed no sign of stopping.

Tails, forced to take shelter from the deadly hailstones, tried his best to dodge the falling ice chunks and made a beeline for the coliseum ahead. The moment his feet crossed the construction's gate, the hail miraculously stopped and the sky became clear again.

Tails was slightly taken aback by the strange occurrence, but he paid it no mind.

"Well, this is a deity's domain after all," the genius fox reasoned as he looked at the sky briefly before turning back at the place he was in, "Now then, I need to find Livyath quick and put a stop to his schemes."

With his determination and spirit high, Tails went past a place that resembled a waiting room for gladiators and headed further into the coliseum. A short moment later, he arrived at a very large battle arena, and was quite surprised by what he found there.

* * *

**Well, that's it for the time being. I'll edit and put up the next chapter as soon as I can, which shouldn't be too long considering the amount of free time I now have (aside from part time jobs of course). Stay tuned for Tails' boss battle, everyone. Thank you so much for your patience and likes. **


	13. Chapter 13 - Tails

**I told you the boss battle would be up pretty soon, didn't I? Well, I honor my word and here it is. Also, this battle is a little long, so you might want to make yourself comfortable and bring some snacks.**

**Without further ado, here you go, Tails' own boss battle. **

* * *

Frozen Wonderland – Act 3: Livyath of the Everlasting Blizzards

The inside of the marvelous coliseum was a battle arena made entirely of ice that seemed to stretch indefinitely. In front of Tails was a huge bridge crossing a river and leading to the round arena ahead.

In the middle of the ring, Tails, from where he was, could clearly see a figure cloaked in a blue robe, the same shade as the ice forming the entire place, standing forlornly.

Even though the fox couldn't see his face through the heavy cloak, he could certainly feel the icy and malicious glare of the individual directed at him, which sent chills up and down his spine. There was a lot of animosity emanating from the figure, and Tails himself knew exactly why.

Knowing that there was no turning back after making it this far, Tails swallowed the lump that had unknowingly formed in his throat and cautiously crossed the bridge before him and approached the lone deity of cyan. Once the fox had reached the other side of the bridge and entered the battle arena, the contraption behind him collapsed almost instantly, trapping Tails alone with the ruler of the frozen domain.

Tails gulped once again and came closer to the god while exercising extreme caution. Every battle against super-powered beings and gods Tails had taken part in was fought alongside Sonic and his allies. This was actually the first time Tails had ever taken on a deity in combat alone, without any help, so he couldn't help but feel very nervous. While walking, Tails fiddled with his gloves, hoping that the major modifications he had made to them would help him survive this treacherous battle.

Due to the size of the ring and the cautious pace at which Tails was treading, the fox took a good ten minutes to reach the deity's place and stopped just a few yards away from him. The cloaked individual, completely aware of Tails' arrival, simply stood still, watching Tails intently as he got closer.

After a brief moment of uncomfortable silence, the cloaked god, whose size was relatively small compared to the others and about the same size as his challenger, decided to break the ice.

"You've finally made it here, I see. Though I'm quite surprised you managed to avoid my traps, I'm glad. Now I can see to it that you perish by my hands personally."

Tails was clearly taken aback by the voice of the deity, the surprise evident on his face. Livyath didn't sound anything like the monstrosity that had frozen Southern Island at all. Instead, it was a voice belonging to a child, possibly ten or eleven years of age. Now that Tails was close enough, he was able to take a closer look at the enigmatic figure before him. It was then that Tails finally noticed the fact that that the deity was about his height.

'_A child's voice_?' thought Tails curiously as he kept his undivided attention on the strange opponent.

"You seem puzzled by my appearance," said the deity, who correctly read the surprised fox's mind based on his facial expression.

"You are called Livyath, right?" asked Tails cautiously, to which Livyath simply nodded his head ever so slightly, but said nothing in response. "You were the huge sea serpent that froze Southern Island, right?" again, another slow nod from the god.

"You seem to be missing a minor detail, Tails" Livyath said with much venom and malice when he pronounced the fox's name, causing him to flinch visibly.

"W-What is that?" asked Tails cautiously.

Without saying anything, Livyath grabbed his cloak and took it off, revealing himself fully to the mortal challenger.

Just like Tails had guessed, the uncloaked figure before him was indeed a child. He had pointy ears like those of an elf and long icy blue hair that reached down his shoulders. The deity also had one piercing navy blue eye, while his left eye was covered by an eye patch made of the same element as the entire domain. Also, the being was relatively small and he looked no older than eleven, but Tails knew better not to be fooled by his stature.

Livyath wore a long white robe with blue linings and icicle symbols on the back, matching blue buckles and a black belt around his waist to keep his attire in place. Over the robe, Livyath wore a small white poncho with similar blue linings, which was fastened in place by a small black clip. In addition, he also sported pure-white trousers under his robe and matching white shoes. Thanks to the colors of his attires, Livyath was almost blended in with the surroundings.

The pale-skinned god then touched his patched eye and frowned at Tails, shooting him with a deadly glare that froze the fox in place.

"Have you already forgotten what you did to me?"

"You attacked us," replied Tails, "I was just trying to protect my friends."

"You, a tiny and pitiful mortal, dared to defy me…that alone is a sin that I cannot and will not forget," growled Livyath angrily, his body emanating a freezing aura. Clearly, the god's temper and his element did not match.

"You're one to call somebody 'tiny'. You are about the same size as me."

"Some Lords of Pandemonium tend to take on humanoid forms to conceal their real powers, and I'm no exception. However, there are some of us who like to use their Mythical Beast forms without restraint."

"Mythical Beast forms? Humanoid forms?"

"You already saw mine, and yet you dared to attack me. I will pay you back tenfold what you did to me, brat. Since I'm under strict orders from Arzazel not to blow up this place, I'll destroy you in this form. Besides, what's the point of swallowing you whole in one move? I'll make your death as painful as possible, making you wish you had never been born." said Livyath as he began to laugh maniacally and glared at Tails with hate and disgust.

"Prepare to face the wrath of **Livyath of the Everlasting Blizzards**, you insolent brat."

With that, Livyath got into his fighting stance and got ready for his battle, his aura already forming huge ice blocks nearby. Likewise, Tails did the same and prepared himself physically and mentally for a fight to the death with a deity capable of freezing an island in an instant without even trying.

…

"Tell me, Tails," said Livyath with a playful yet malicious smirk on his childish face, "Have you checked the weather forecast today?"

"What kind of question is that?" asked Tails, not knowing what Livyath was referring to.

"I heard there's a blizzard coming soon," said Livyath as he raised his hand up, "And you are about to be caught in the middle of it."

The god then clicked his fingers. In an instant, an extremely strong blizzard occurred, much to Tails' surprise and absolute horror. The fox tried his best to stand his ground in the midst of the freezing whiteout, but it proved to be a tedious task.

"Time for some payback, mortal," Livyath said furiously before disappearing into the strong blizzard.

Tails tried to look around in the blinding snowstorm in an attempt to locate where his opponent had disappeared to, but he could see nothing but the snow and ice.

…

All of the sudden, Livyath emerged right behind Tails and summoned a broad sword out if ice and slashed his back. The fox, however, noticed the weapon and quickly stumbled forward, narrowly escaping in the nick of time. Despite his quick reflexes, Livyath's large sword still managed to graze Tails' back, causing the fox to wince slightly as he fell head-first on the ice.

A moment later, the blizzard stopped, and Livyath stood still with his sword still in hands. He smirked at Tails and said in a mocking and patronizing tone.

"You're faster than I thought, mortal. In the past, I would have already won the battle with that move just now. You're probably the first one to have ever survived it, bravo."

The deity then burst out laughing with the same childish voice for a while before turning back to Tails, who had already pushed himself up.

"No matter, that just means I can savor the moment for a little while longer," Livyath said quietly as he summoned numerous extremely large and sharp spinning snowflakes with his power.

The spinning snowflakes were then shot at Tails at an incredible speed, but the fox still managed to escape instant doom by impaling by quickly taking to the sky with his namesakes.

Using his superb acrobatic skills, Tails continued to dodge the rest of the deadly snowflakes and headed for Livyath himself. The elf-like deity, however, was unconcerned. If anything, the grin on his face only grew wider and more malicious as Tails closed in on him.

When the fox was within range, Livyath immediately raised his hands up and summoned countless icicles of varying sizes and shapes from the ground and sent all of them at his target, intending to land a surprise attack on the young flyer.

Tails, however, noticed something strange the moment the ice manipulator raised his hands and immediately halted, narrowly escaping the deity's ambush and preserving his life as a result.

'_That was too close'_ thought Tails as he sighed in relief, for the fox was merely a little distance away from being stabbed by one of the sharp icicles Livyath had summoned.

Suddenly, cracks appeared on the huge icicles and a second later, they shattered into millions of smaller yet still sharp pieces on their own. The ice shards made Tails cover his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them again, Tails saw the grinning face of Livyath right in front of him, much to his terror.

"Got you now, mortal," said Livyath cruelly before he summoned a huge ice hammer twice his size and hit Tails with a mighty blow, sending the fox pummeling toward the ground with a loud thud. The force of the collision actually cracked the thick layer of ice that constituted the battle arena.

Not giving Tails the chance to get up, the falling Livyath froze the water in the air with his magic to create millions of sharp ice needles and shot them at his opponent on the ground.

Tails, despite still being dazed by the force of the deity's hammer, noticed the incoming projectiles and quickly pushed his body up once more.

The fox then spun his tails and ran in circles around the ring to avoid being stabbed by the deadly needles. While Tails managed to dodge most, he still suffered from minor cuts for he couldn't evade every single one of the rapidly incoming projectiles.

In one quick motion, Livyath, having landed safely on his feet, used his magic once more and made the needles that he had shot levitate and fuse into a giant ice dragon. Using his power once again, Livyath created a huge glacier behind him and jumped on top of it. The newly-created dragon then began to follow Livyath's manipulation and hunt down Tails and opened its gigantic jaw to crush him.

'_Man, how many moves does this guy have anyway?'_ thought Tails begrudgingly as he continued to run for his life to avoid being bitten by the giant ice creature behind him.

After trying to elude the dragon for a while, Tails knew he couldn't shake off the ice creature, so he decided to stop running and tried to retaliate.

The fox immediately whipped around and waited for the dragon to approach him. Once it was close, Tails patiently waited for it to open its mouth.

"That's it, just a little closer," muttered Tails quietly as he watched the approaching dragon with watchful eyes.

Once the dragon was about to swallow Tails, he jumped back and simultaneously created a bomb with his gloves and threw it inside the creature's open jaws.

The bomb went off a few seconds later and blew up the animated creature instantly, reducing it to bits.

"Take that, monster," yelled Tails excitedly as his attack worked.

However, Tails was not in the clear just yet, for the real mastermind remained. Livyath, standing on top of his glacier, was not pleased with what he had just witnessed.

"You imbecilic brat of a mortal, you're only prolonging the inevitable."

Livyath then used his power once again to forge two scimitars and lunged at Tails. When he was within range to deliver attacks, the deity began to assault the fox with an endless series of slashes and thrusts, but Tails managed to evade every attack with credit to his lightning-quick reflexes.

…

Knowing that he couldn't continue being on the defensive forever, Tails began to formulate a plan to counterattack.

In an instant, he jumped back to distance himself from the charging god and threw a lot of explosives at the dual-wielding deity. Livyath, with his superb swordsmanship, quickly neutralized the threats by cutting off their fuses, rendering the explosives virtually useless.

"You can't defeat me by randomly throwing bombs at me, mortal," Livyath taunted as he continued to zoom in and slash Tails, "Without the fuses, those things are practically useless."

"Not if I can help it," said Tails confidently with a grin on his face while dodging his opponent's relentless attacks, which surprised Livyath a little, "Creating bombs isn't the only thing my gloves can do, Livyath."

With that, Tails leaped backward and evaded Livyath's horizontal slashes. In one swift motion, Tails lunged forward and threw a punch at the god's exposed chest. The ice deity held out his scimitars in front of him in a cross to block the incoming attack.

As soon as Tails' glove made contact with Livyath's weapons, it created an explosion that shattered the ice scimitars and forced the deity back a few feet, much to his surrise.

"What in the…" muttered Livyath before Tails cut him off.

"Thanks to my modifications, these gloves of mine can now create bombs and make explosions as well," said Tails as he threw another punch, this time aimed at the deity's stomach, and hit him directly, sending Livyath flying back a few feet.

The explosion caused the ice manipulator some pain as he winced when Tails' fist made contact. Quickly putting his hands on the ground and performing a flip back, Livyath managed to recover.

The deity looked up at Tails with hatred and murder intent clearly visible in his eyes after checking the burn on his stomach. Nobody had managed to hurt him in the past, so it came as a great shock to the god to have been injured by one single fox twice in one day, a fact that only fueled his anger even more.

"You insolent little…" muttered Livyath as he summoned an ice rapier and launched himself at Tails once again.

Tails quickly generated another bomb and threw it on the ground. The explosive exploded immediately upon impact and created a thick smoke screen that clouded the deity's sight. Regardless, Livyath performed a powerful thrust into the thick dark smoke where Tails had been standing a while ago, only to find that his target was no there.

Suddenly, he heard the familiar sound of Tails' spinning namesakes right above him and looked up. Tails was indeed flying right above Livyath, and he started to bombard the deity with another barrage of deadly explosives.

Just like before, Livyath easily neutralized Tails' incoming explosives by cutting off their fuses and summoned giant snowflakes and shot them at Tails, who quickly dodged by descending and ascending in quick succession.

"I told you, Tails. Randomly throwing bombs at me won't do you any good."

"And you seem to be forgetting a minor detail, Livyath," replied Tails with a huge grin on his muzzle.

Before Livyath could open his mouth to ask, Tails beat him to the punch.

"You may want to take a look around for a little bit."

Livyath did just that and saw that he was standing in the middle of an area littered with Tails' defused bombs. However, the sight of the situation didn't even make the god blink.

"So what? These things can't go off, I cut off their fuses."

"Yes, they would be useless if they were normal bombs," said Tails smugly as he held his right hand out, "But these are my inventions. Like I said, these gloves of mine can do more than just making bombs. They can make them, create explosion to augment my punches…and dictate when the bombs go off should something happen to their fuses."

As soon as he finished his last word, Tails snapped his fingers and in an instant, the maze of defused explosives simultaneously went off and trapped Livyath in the middle of the extremely wide blast radius, making the trapped Livyath cry out in pure agony as the flames burned into his flesh and injured him.

The chain of explosions continued for a few more minutes before it ceased. As a result, a huge portion of the battle arena, mainly where Livyath had been standing, was completely destroyed, and Livyath was nowhere to be found.

…

A few moments later, a haze occurred, much to Tails' surprise. He knew full well that nothing was natural in this place, and that this haze could only be Livyath's doing, so the fox stayed on guard and darted his eyes around in search for the pale-skinned immortal.

Out of the blue, the deity in question emerged from the cold air right behind Tails, much to the fox's horror. Livyath looked absolutely and utterly furious, most of his body was burned and he was charred very badly due Tails' clever and unexpected trap.

Before Tails could do anything, Livyath extended his arm and grabbed the fox's neck, squeezing it hard with all his might.

"I've had it with you, you little freak," yelled Livyath in a state of extreme agitation, "I will end your life right now for your insolence and devour your flesh afterwards."

Tails struggled valiantly to break free of the enraged immortal's hold, but no matter how much he did so, he couldn't manage the feat. Livyath grinned evilly when he watched Tails squirm in his hand and burst out laughing like a maniac.

"It ends here, fox," said Livyath as he summoned another ice rapier with his free hand and held it up, ready to thrust it into the fox's beating heart. "Time to meet your maker."

Tails looked at the rapier Livyath was holding and gasped in terror. He knew he needed to break free from the deity's grab, and he knew how to do just that, but that didn't mean he had to like what was about to transpire.

'_Desperate time calls for desperate measure,'_ Tails thought.

Quickly, Tails let go of the deity's arm and summoned two explosives with both hands. He then shoved the two explosives together with a mighty force.

The collision of the bombs created a huge explosion that was twice as powerful as the normal one. The big explosion hurt both Tails and Livyath at the same time, burning their flesh and forcing the latter to let go of the former's neck in surprise.

…

Seizing his precious chance, Tails quickly flew away from Livyath and threw another bomb at the god. Due to his daze and the smoke created by the last explosion, the ice immortal didn't see the incoming explosive.

When Livyath did notice, it was already too late, for the bomb exploded right in his face, knocking him back and sending him flying toward the ground at a great speed.

"You insolent little freak," shouted Livyath at the top of his lung and glared at Tails after dusting himself off, "I'll make you pay for that."

Livyath's body began to glow with his frosty aura. He then jolted up and conjured huge ice boulders, razor-sharp snowflakes and a variety of ice swords, spears with his magic. The enraged god then threw all of his newly created weapons at Tails, who was still hovering in the air.

The flying fox began to descend and dodged the incoming deadly conjured objects with great difficulty. Many times, Tails almost got slashed by the snowflakes, spears and swords, but he managed to get out of the way just in the nick of time, escaping the projectiles with lots of cuts, some of which looked really nasty and deep.

'_This guy is tenacious'_ thought Tails as he began to make a beeline for Livyath, who was still on the ground creating more stuff to throw at his target with his power. _'But I can use that to my advantage.'_

…

After a while of dodging the ice weapons with various difficult maneuvers, Tails managed to get close to Livyath and delivered another explosive punch on the god's abdomen.

In his firing spree, Livyath wasn't able to react quickly enough against Tails' attack and got hit squarely, making him yell out in pain as the flames from the explosion once again burned his ice-cold flesh.

…

Not giving up just yet, Livyath growled loudly and summoned another powerful blizzard like he had at the beginning of the fight and disappeared into the snow. Tails, however, knew what the god would do for he had seen this technique before.

Tails twitched his ears around in an attempt to listen for any suspicious movements in the midst of the blinding snowstorm. A second later, the ice manipulator reemerged right behind Tails with a huge scythe in hand, ready to slash the fox in half.

Unbeknownst to the god, Tails had heard the sound of Livyath's arrival and swung one of his namesakes mightily at the handle of the immortal's weapon, snapping it in half. Using the other tail, Tails landed another hit on Livyath's chest, but the god saw that one coming and grabbed it.

"I'll freeze you to death, fox," shouted the god furiously as he began to freeze Tails' tail, much to the fox's horror.

In one quick motion, Tails materialized another bomb in his hand and threw it in the space between himself and his adverasry. As soon as Livyath saw the incoming explosive, he immediately let go of Tails' appendage and moved back, sparing himself another painful blast radius. Tails, on the other, was caught in the explosion and was sent flying back a few feet, hitting the frozen surface of the arena multiple times.

Tails, straining himself, wearily got to his feet and trained his eyes on Livyath, who had just summoned another elemental rapier with his power.

"Time to finish this, mortal. Say your prayers." Livyath then created and shot more icicles at Tails and charged at him at an incredible speed.

Tails watched the hot-headed immortal in front of him and managed a small smile.

"Alright, it's now or never…" muttered Tails as he threw a smoke bomb on the ground, creating a smoke screen to blind the deity.

…

Livyath, however, called forth an chilly wind and blew the smoke away. Once the smoke screen was no more, Livyath saw Tails standing still and swiftly performed a powerful and precise thrust aimed at Tails' heart.

"It's over, fox."

Much to the god's surprise, his rapier went through Tails' body.

"What kind of sorcery is this?" asked the bewildered Livyath as he stepped back, not understanding what trick his opponent had pulled.

A moment later, the figure of Tails that Livyath had stabbed began to fade away.

"A phantasm?" asked Livyath as he darted his eyes around the place, trying to look for the sight of golden fox. A second later, his eyes fell upon the sight of his target and once again, Livyath shot more icicles in that direction.

Like Livyath's thrust, the icicles went through the fox's body like thin air.

'_What is going on here? Is that mortal fox capable of magic? No, it's impossible; I didn't sense anything magical from him. What exactly is happening here? Was that smoke screen capable of creating illusions?'_

While lost in his own thought, Livyath didn't notice the approaching Tails, who had moved close to him at an incredible speed.

Unable to react quickly enough, the elf-like immortal was hit by a series of punches and tail swipes, all of which were augmented by explosives. After a few minutes of relentlessly assaulting the god, Tails jumped back and threw another bomb on the ground to create another thick smoke screen.

…

Not letting the kid get away, Livyath shot a huge shuriken-like snowflake at the smoke screen, but nothing happened.

Out of the corner of his eye, Livyath once again spotted Tails standing motionlessly. In one quick motion, the agitated god summoned sharp icicles from the ground and commanded them to impale the cub. However, like before, his attacks went through Tails' phantom-like body.

"Coward! I'm getting sick and tired of this trick!" yelled Livyath angrily before he summoned huge ice walls around his position, which began to close up to form a protective dome around the summoner.

Before the ice dome closed up completely, out of nowhere, Tails dropped down from the sky through the gap and came face to face with the bewildered deity inside.

"How…"

"I have my ways," replied Tails briefly before unleashing a powerful spin dash attack at Livyath. Using the dome the god had created, Tails aimed his attack at the precise angles so that he would always ricochet right at his target, causing Livyath excruciating pain with each hit.

When Tails was quite sure that his adversary couldn't keep on going anymore from all the damage he had sustained, the fox uncurled himself and clenched his fists tightly.

"This is the end, Livyath," shouted Tails loudly as he delivered an explosive knockout blow at the god's chest, sending him crashing into his ice wall and flying out of his ice dome at an unfathomable speed. In fact, Livyath was almost invisible after receiving Tails' attack.

The dome, having lost its builder, quickly crumbled after Livyath was out of the way.

'_Thanks goodness I asked Knuckles to train me for a few months'_ Tails thought after he made his way out of the collapsing dome.

Tails, having exhausted his energy during the fight, dropped to his knees and panted shortly afterwards. He hoped that his last attack had managed to defeat Livyath, for he knew he was in no condition to fight any longer.

…

A few minutes later, Livyath wearily got to his feet and glared at Tails. He tried to summon another rapier, but his strength failed him in his current conditions and he fell to one knee, panting heavily.

"You…" muttered the god breathlessly as he kept his eye on his opponent, "What kind of witchcraft…did you use?"

"The kind that they call 'science'," replied Tails with an amused grin on his face; he couldn't help but laugh at the fact that a mighty god had associated his technique with magic, which he didn't and would never possess.

"What?"

"It's called 'afterimage'. I simply moved around at a speed so fast that I left an image of myself behind. I used the smoke to conceal my movements and created an afterimage before taking to the sky."

"So the last part about me summoning my ice dome was also part of your scheme, huh?" growled Livyath angrily, clearly pissed off that he, a god of immense power, had fallen for Tails' simple misdirection.

"Nah, that was an improvisation on my part," replied Tails with a slight shake of his head. Needless to say, Livyath was shocked speechless. That Tails was able to improvise in a matter of seconds was unthinkable. Despite not showing it, the deity was actually impressed with Tails' quick thinking and resourcefulness in battle, albeit begrudgingly.

Livyath wobbly stood up and glared at Tails one last time.

"By Arzazel's orders, I'm not allowed to go all out right now, so I'll leave you breathe for a while longer. You may have won this battle, mortal, but I'll be back. Next time, I'll show you what I'm truly capable of."

With that, Livyath created a portal behind him and teleported himself out of the frozen domain, leaving Tails alone in the middle of the badly damaged arena.

…

"I…I won?" said Tails quietly, clearly not believing that he had managed to defeat a powerful deity on his own.

"I WON! I WON!" yelled the kid excitedly before feeling a sharp pain coming from his back. Despite his victory, the battle had clearly done a number on him.

"I'll treat those wounds later," said Tails happily, "At least now I'll be able to prove to Sonic that I'm almost as strong as he is and capable of doing things on my own."

Out of the blue, a portal appeared in front of Tails and surprised him a little. Through that very portal, the fox could see the place from whence he had come.

Thus, without further ado, Tails stepped through the portal and got transported back to the Forbidden Island, barely able to contain his rising excitement from his showdown with the ice immortal.

…

Meanwhile, at another place…

A beaten and badly charred Livyath stepped into a dark room and sat down on a stone seat, holding his chest to suppress the pain. He was panting very heavily, having overexerted the limit of his current form in his battle with Tails.

"That brat…How dared he trick me? I'll get him next time."

"That is for next time, Livyath. For the moment, try not to cry over spilt milk," said the calm and suave voice of the leader of the seven deities from behind the fallen god. "Though, I must say I am quite impressed that you managed to contain your anger and not transform into your Mystical Beast form."

"Shut up, Arz! I don't have time for your stupid lectures right now," said Livyath angrily as he shot up from where he was sitting and glared at the newly-arrived Arzazel.

Before Arzazel could say anything back, Livyath brushed past him and left the room in haste, not wanting to listen to any more talk from his leader.

The grey-cloaked enigma stood alone in the darkness of the chamber looking intently at the door where Livyath had disappeared to. He simply shook his head ever so slightly before he himself faded into the shadows of the dark chamber.

* * *

**Didn't expect the boss to be a midget, eh? I couldn't help myself. I want to save the dragon for later. **

**Also, for the battle scenes, the ideas just kept coming and coming, but I truly hope what I wrote here is as good as it was in my head. Please tell me what you think if you have time. **

**Also, before I forget, Character Select is now open, and "Espio is clearly ready to go, run down who'd do you wrong."** ** Readers who have already selected their characters, please allow other people to make their picks. If no one nominates any character after two days, you can go again. **

**Thank you very much for reading and following my story. See you all next time. **


	14. Chapter 14 - Sonic

**It's been an extremely fruitful day for me, I managed to finish writing a new chapter and complete the editing of this one. I think I'll be able to finish the story pretty soon. Yay!**

**Okay, the next earliest request came from Captain Hwawrang, who nominated Sonic as the next character. Wow, all three members of team Heroes get to hog the center stage first, that was unexpected. Anyway, as Capt. Hwawrang ordered, Sonic is all geared up and raring to go. **

**Here is the first part of his own stage. Enjoy, and don't forget to drop a few lines if you find the chapter to your liking. :) **

* * *

Molten Destruction – Act 1

The moment Sonic stepped through his selected portal, the hedgehog was instantly surrounded by a bright light, which forced him to cover his eyes with both hands.

When the hedgehog, with his eyes closed still, felt that the blinding burst of light had disappeared, he opened his eyes and shook his head vigorously to clear his blurry vision.

Once he was able to see normally once again, the cobalt speedster took his time and scanned the surroundings of the new and unfamiliar landscape. The place he was at was anything but ordinary.

…

Sonic, after surveying his chosen domain, found himself inside some sort of dark tunnel with no lighting save for a tiny dot of white right ahead. Figuring that could be the way to the outside world, Sonic immediately sped off and headed toward the direction of the light source.

The speck of light got bigger and bigger as Sonic approached, and soon, the cobalt hero saw clearly that it was indeed the way out of the lightless chasm. Speeding up even more, Sonic dashed right through the exit and got out of the mysterious cave, only to be momentarily blinded once again by a bright red color, and lots of heat.

The exact moment when Sonic's vision adjusted to the brightness of the area, the hedgehog found himself standing on a small flatform which overviewed the entirety of the domain.

The zone that he was currently in was a molten zone with lots of erupting volcanoes as far as the eyes could see; lava streams that seemed to stretch on forever and rocky terrains that looked extremely hazardous and treacherous. The entire place looked very unstable and seemed like it could explode with magma at any given moment.

"Jeez, and I thought Lava Reef Zone inside Angel Island was hot," Sonic said, whistling as he beheld the amazing scene before him, "This place looks like a ticking bomb, ready to blow up at any time."

"That is correct, child" said a sudden voice behind Sonic, which prompted him to turn his head abruptly and looked at the newly-arrived host.

…

Standing behind Sonic was the deity cloaked dressed in the red robe that completely shrouded his features. The only thing that the hedgehog could see was two shining amber orbs under the red hood.

"So, you are the one in charge of this hellhole?" Sonic asked as he gestured to the scene behind him, "No offense, but you really need to find new accommodation soon. The heat in this place is unbearable" Sonic then fanned himself with his hand to emphasize his point and wiped away some beads of sweats that ran down his forehead.

"You should really learn how to be respectful toward your elders, you insolent cub," growled the figure in exasperation as he eyed the hedgehog intently.

"Elders? Where? The only thing I see is a big red talking pepper in front of me. Maybe I ought to call you 'Pepperman'. Seriously, you would make a great roasted red pepper egg custard dish with Eggman" said Sonic with a playful tone as he stretched his muscles, getting ready for a possible brawl with the red-clad immortal.

As soon as the last word escaped Sonic's mouth, the enigmatic deity's body was completely covered in a sudden burst of flames, which burnt the area surrounding him as well as his own cloak to ashes, effectively revealing himself to the hedgehog.

...

Standing in front of Sonic at that moment was a bald and hardened old man, presumably in his eighties based on his appearance, with tanned complexion. The elder god had glowing amber eyes, long gray eyebrows that reached his shoulders and an even longer and bushier beard of the same color that covered part of his broad torso.

He was dressed in an attire similar to his discarded cloak; a red robe that completely covered his entire body, save for his hands, which were adorned with gold rings around every finger and gold bracelets around both wrists. The robe also had gold linings and was tied in place by a similar belt made of the same rare and valuable material as his accessories. The belt also had jewels embedded on its surface.

In addition, the expensive-looking belt also held a loincloth of dark crimson tightly in place. Draped around the flamboyant deity's shoulders was a flowing cloak of dark crimson, tightly secured in place by an armor plate on his right shoulder. All in all, the ancient immortal had an appearance of a wizard back in the days of old.

Sonic eyed the old deity very carefully, studying his every feature in search of a possible weakness.

"Ah, SIR," Sonic said loudly as he covered his eyes with his hand a moment later and peeked through his fingers, "some words of advice; you may want to tone down on the red. Seeing an excessive amount of that shade makes my eyes hurt. The gold is fine, I suppose, I kind of like that shade of color, probably because that is color of my pal's fur. Also, you might want to take off some layers of garments in this dreadful heat."

"You insolent little rat!" said the deity indignantly as he produced more flames from his body, "How **dare** you speak to me in that tone. Me, the great **Bartos of the Searing Wildfires**."

"First of all, I'm not a rat, I'm a hedgehog. Immortal beings should really learn how to differentiate between the two species. Secondly, Ba…ton?" Sonic said and snickered as he intentionally mispronounced his name, "I don't like sticks; I think I like Pepperman better. It's actually much easier to remember since it's similar to a certain brand of chewing gum I know."

The ancient being, in a state of extreme agitation, instantly released a stream of infernal flames from his palm and aimed at Sonic, who managed to dodge the attack with relative ease by quickly side stepping out of the way long before the attack reached him.

"You clearly do not possess any respect for your elders, cub" said Bartos with disgust in his voice as he glared dagger at the cobalt hedgehog, "I will teach a lesson about respect soon, one that I am certain you will never forget, even when your pitiful corpse burns in the vilest abyss of the netherworld."

"Hey, I did refer to you as 'Sir', didn't I? Besides, for senior citizens that want spend their days in peace after contributing considerably to society, sure, I respect them wholeheartedly. But for vindictive, millennia-old evil gods bent on the destruction of the worlds and all of reality, nah" Sonic replied sarcastically.

The fiery immortal of the volcanic domain was about to launch another deadly attack on Sonic, but he decided against it. Instead, he shot another glare at Sonic's direction and frowned.

"I would have liked to face the ninja chameleon in battle. At least he possesses more manners than you, cub."

"Wow! You sound **a lot** like Shadow and sometimes, Eggman," Sonic exclaimed as he shook his head slightly in feigned annoyance.

"Well, no matter, since you are already here, I might as well entertain myself and while away the time."

"Entertain yourself?"

"Indeed."

"How?" Sonic asked as he knitted his brows together in confusion.

"Since you love playing games so much, Sonic, I will play one with you. It's called 'Staying Alive'. The rule of the game is very simple, so I'm sure even your primitive mind can memorize the rules in a short amount of time. All you need to do is go through the challenges of my domain, the **Molten Destruction**, and reach that tower over there," Bartos said and pointed a finger at a gigantic castle made entirely of gold, which completely stood out in the hellish domain dominated by volcanoes and lava.

"Once you arrive at that tower, you will earn the right to entertain me personally, mortal cub, provided that you don't drop dead at my front door first, of course."

"While I do consider it a great honor to be your stress reliever, old man," said Sonic sarcastically as he continued with his long warm-up exercises, "I'm afraid I'm running on a tight schedule, so how about I just kick your butt back to wherever you crawl out from right here, right now?"

In one swift motion too quick for the eyes to see, Sonic leaped forward and curled into a tight, spinning ball. He then unleashed his trademark spin dash attack in an attempt to land a hit on Bartos. Unfortunately the fiery being, having anticipated such an assault, instantly summoned a wall of infernal fire that covered his body and disappeared in a burst of flames, making Sonic's attack hit thin air as a result.

"Sorry to ruin your plans, boy," boomed the voice of Bartos in the distance, "but you know what they say; 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'," after that, the sound of a maniacal cackle could be heard faraway, echoing through the air.

Sonic landed nimbly on his feet after his failed attempt and looked at the spot where Batos had once stood and sighed loudly.

"Ah crud! So much for running on a tight schedule."

The cobalt hero then walked to the edge of the flatform on which he was standing and fixed his eyes on the gold tower in the distance.

"Alright then," said Sonic as he stretched his legs one final time, "I'll just kick your butt in your own house. Nobody messes with my world and my friends and gets away with it, be they human or god."

With that said, Sonic immediately sped off and headed for the direction of the outstanding gold tower amidst the treacherous field of lava.

…

The terrain was indeed as treacherous as it appeared, if not more so when one actually treaded upon the unstable paths.

Many times, the very ground that Sonic was speeding on gave way as soon as the hero's feet touched the surface and fell down toward the burning streams of lava below so unexpectedly that if it hadn't been for the hedgehog's superb reflexes, he would have already fallen into his demise.

"Man, that was a close call," Sonic muttered as he looked at the molten lava below and shuddered slightly at the sight. In truth, the latest collapse of the ground was almost too close for comfort.

"How can anybody live in a place like this? Well, maybe Knuckles and the Lava Reef Zone, but seriously…"

The hedgehog was cut off immediately as the ground in front of him collapsed once again, much to his dismay.

Quickly skidding to a stop, Sonic found himself dangling at the very edge of the remaining ground. One second later could have sent the speedy hedgehog to his early grave, and Sonic did not appreciate that thought, not one bit.

With a quick shake of his head, Sonic stepped back a few steps to regain his balance and leaped over the gap created when the ground in the middle had collapsed. He then continued to make his way for his designated destination at the distance.

"Man, that tower really stings my eyes, even from here" thought Sonic as he picked up the pace even further, running through the rocky and highly unstable soils before the entire ground collapsed and sent him pummeling to his certain doom.

…

It was a fairly smooth journey for the cobalt hedgehog afterwards; the only real threat being the unstable ground and the occasional lava pits that erupted without warning along the path. The entire trip was just a simple straight line, leading straight to Bartos' residence.

However, unbeknownst to Sonic, the lava below started to bubble up after the hedgehog had passed, signaling the end of the smooth journey and the beginning of trouble. Things were just about to heat up for the confident speedy hero of blue.

…

After running for quite a long time and escaping a series of sudden death traps like the ever present collapsing platforms, erupting lava pits, stone spikes popping out of the walls, falling molten rocks of varying sizes, explosions and occasional earthquakes of immense magnitude; Sonic finally arrived at a different area within this vast domain.

In front of Sonic now existed a clear and spacious field resembling a battle arena of some sort, as well as an entrance to a cave inside a huge active volcano ahead. The entire sight was anything but welcoming.

The spiky speedster darted his emerald eyes from left to right in an attempt to locate a way to go around the volcano, but to his dismay and charging, he found none.

Normally, having an adventure inside an active volcano, which could seriously spell the end of one's life, was an appealing thought to the daredevil and adventurous hedgehog, but today, he was more preoccupied with stopping the vindictive and catastrophic gods from bringing forth a cataclysm to all form of reality.

"I guess I have no choice but to go in," said Sonic quietly as he resigned himself to taking the only option presented to him.

With that, the cobalt hedgehog began to tread carefully toward the entrance, his eyes still darting around for unexpected ambushes or traps. At first, nothing happened, but that soon changed.

Once he was at the center of the spacious field, the lava below began to rise up and completely blocked his paths, both the way forward and the way backward from whence he had come.

"What in the name of Chaos?" exclaimed the speedy hedgehog in surprise as he immediately found himself trapped in a clear field with no apparent way to escape.

"Now, how am I supposed to…"

Before Sonic could finish his self-directed question, the earth began to shake violently, surprising the trapped hero. A few moments later, the molten rocks began to float on the deadly lava and joined together to form huge golem-like monsters, whose bodies were completely composed of magma and rocks.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," Sonic commented sarcastically on the appearance of the monsters and directed his gaze upon the opponents before him. There were at least twenty of them, which seriously outnumbered the lone hero.

"Hmm, I think I'll name you Ugly No.1 and you Ugly No.2 and…Oh to hell with it, I'll just smash all of you to pieces."

The giant golems all roared at the same time and began to bombard Sonic with lava-filled boulders generated from their own bodies.

Needless to say, Sonic dodged the incoming boulders with relative ease and unleashed a series of his trademark homing attack on the closest golems, sending them straight into another and smashing them to bits.

"Four down, and many more to go. So, who's next?" said Sonic as he once again leaped forward and bounced on top of the remaining golems, knocking some back while taking out the others.

The golems roared mightily once again and charged at Sonic in an attempt to clobber him with their gigantic hands. There was no denying the sheer brute force that each golem possessed. Each time their fists slammed on the ground, the entire battle arena shook vigorously and cracked, making Sonic lose balance more than once and almost causing him to get squashed by their enormous feet.

'_Man, these things are strong,'_ Sonic thought as he spin dashed another golem on the head and smashed through it, '_but not fast enough to catch me.'_

With that, the blue blur jumped on top of another golem and stayed there for a while. That golem, in a futile attempt to shake Sonic off its head, went on a rampage and swung its giant arms around carelessly, unintentionally taking out a great number of its own comrades in the process.

Sonic continued to dangle around the dim-witted golem's head and made it destroy the rest of its own kind for about fifteen minutes before performing a downward spin dash and tore it in half, finishing off the final opponent in sight.

…

"Now that was a good workout!" exclaimed the hedgehog as he stretched his back and took a look around to make sure he hadn't missed any golem in his wake. "Now then…let's get back to the matter of getting out of this…"

Before the blue blur could finish his sentence, the lava walls surrounding the battle arena lowered on its own, revealing the entrance to the mysterious and eerie cave once more.

'_Well, isn't that thoughtful?'_ Sonic thought before he sped off in the entrance's direction, ready to move on to the next area and face anything the fiery immortal had in store for him inside.

* * *

**That is all for now, the second part of the stage will be up pretty soon. Thank you for your patience. Have a nice day (or night depending on your time zone), everyone. See you soon.**


	15. Chapter 15 - Sonic

**Hello there folks, I'm finally back with a new chapter for our Sonic. I hope you'll enjoy this one (emphasis on the word 'hope' because of reasons). Last time, our favorite blue hedgehog had a run for his life on the surface, let's see how he fares inside an active volcano, shall we? **

**Without further delay caused by my mindless rambling, here you go. Enjoy. :)**

* * *

Molten Destruction – Act 2

Once Sonic had stepped through the entrance of the eerie cave, the molten boulders that constituted the cavern suddenly collapsed and blocked the exit for good, much to the hedgehog's shock and charging.

"Great!" exclaimed Sonic as he examined the giant boulders blocking him from the only exit he knew, "Oh yeah, I'm stuck in here until further notice…Well, no point staying here and whining then."

The blue blur, not one to dwell too long in despair, continued on ahead in the dark and almost lightless cavern, this time more cautiously. He could feel the extreme heat coming from somewhere far ahead. He could also see bright light coming from the other side of the cave, which meant he was very close to the exit, or at least to the entrance leading to the next area. Thus, the blue blur picked up the pace and sped off in the direction of that light.

It was the same as the terrain the hedgehog had treaded outside, the flatforms Sonic stepped on sometimes gave in to his weight and fell to bottomless pits below. Having dealt with the unpleasant collapsing flat forms beforehand, Sonic accelerated and ran past all of them before they could collapse, reaching the next area safe and sound.

…

In the next place, which was a series of battle arenas like before, the gigantic golems would, from time to time, emerge from the ground without warning and try to crush Sonic with their magma hands and bombard him with molten rocks taken from their own bodies.

Their awkward attempts at ambushes, however, were less than futile in the face of the world's fastest hedgehog.

Sonic quickly and quite easily evaded any surprise attack made by the huge and dim-witted monsters and counterattacked with a series of well-aimed spin dashes right in their heads, reducing them to mere pebbles in a matter of seconds.

'_Man, how persistent are these guys?'_ Sonic thought as he juggled four heads of the destroyed golems before kicking them into the lava below. '_Well, come what may.'_

With that, Sonic sped off toward the entrance to the next part of the cave.

…

After a while, the hedgehog was stopped in place by a sea of lava below, with the only way of proceeding was to jump on the very unstable-looking rocks, which were magically hovering in mid-air without any support.

"If I know this place like I think I know this place," said Sonic as he carefully examined the floating rocks with curious eyes, "those things are going to drop as soon as my feet touch them…"

After darting his eyes around to look for other routes and seeing none, Sonic came to the conclusion that there was no other way to proceed through the sea of lava below. The hedgehog shrugged in defeat and leaped on to the first rock, landing perfectly on top of it.

True to the blue blur's suspicion and much to his dismay, the magically floating rock immediately fell toward the deadly lava as soon as Sonic landed on it. However, thanks to Sonic's legendary speed as well as the fact that the hedgehog had mentally prepared himself for the trap, he quickly took another leap forward and landed on the next rocks at an incredible pace, much faster than how fast the rocks could collapse below him.

Continuing to move onward at a fast but steady pace, soon, the speedster reached the other side of the lava sea safe and sound.

Once he was in the clear, Sonic turned around and looked back at the place, frowning slightly at the thought that his ways back continued to disappear one by one.

"So, that guy insists that I stay, huh?" Sonic muttered exasperatedly, "Well, I'll just have to ask him to show me the door when I'm done with him."

With that, the speedy hero resumed his treacherous journey and headed to the next sector of the molten cavern.

…

The next area was an extremely vast sea of lava. There were no flatforms to tread on, no hovering rocks that formed a bridge, no ground to collapse within this new area. There were only sharp and deadly rocks on the ceiling and the infinitely vast lava sea below, as well as a small boat made of unknown materials, possibly of magical origin, that could somehow resist the extreme heat of the hot lava.

The boat was simple in design, with four huge buttons on its board, one at the back and one at the front, one on the left and the other on the right.

'_What is this?'_ Sonic wondered in bewilderment at the strange contraption_, 'Am I supposed to paddle this thing to the other side of the lava sea?'_

Despite being skeptical at first, Sonic decided to jump onto the strange boat anyway, having resigned himself to the fact that it was the only thing in the area that could resist being melted by the lava sea.

Unfortunately, Sonic's leap was a bit too far, and as a consequence, he landed directly on the button at the front.

Much to the hedgehog's surprise, the boat instantly moved forward a few inches when his feet made contact with said button. Sonic, having snapped out of his brief trance, studied the buttons closely and understood the mechanism of the strange boat a few seconds later.

"So that's what the buttons do. The one at the front moves the boat forward, the one in the back moves it backward, the right one moves it to the starboard and the left button, to the port side, if I remember what they're called correctly. Meh, whatever. Time to go."

Sonic tried stepping on the button at the back, and the boat moved backward just like he had deduced, which made the blue blur smirk confidently. Getting the hang of the ancient aquatic (lavaic?) vehicle didn't exactly take Sonic very long, about a minute at most.

"Oh right then, time to hit the high seas, mateys…Oh man, I'm starting to sound like Marine already" said Sonic excitedly as he repeatedly stepped on the front button, making the boat move forward at a speed that no captain of any floating vehicle should attempt.

…

The first five minutes of sailing was very smooth for the blue blur. He only needed to spend a little bit more time getting used to operating the boat and dodging a few molten rocks obstructing his path. A minute later, things really started to heat up.

The lava below suddenly bubbled up, which Sonic wryly noticed. He did not like the sight of that.

A second later after the strange occurrence, the lava in front of Sonic suddenly shot up and created a huge lava pillar blocking his path.

Ramming into that pillar would surely mean the end of the hedgehog's adventuring days. In one quick motion, Sonic shifted his weight and jumped on the button on the left, commanding the boat to steer port side. Thanks to his quick reaction, the spiky hero barely missed the deadly pillar by a few inches, much to his relief.

"Phew! That was just cutting it too close," said Sonic quietly as he wiped the beads of sweats off his forehead. If he hadn't been quick enough to steer in time, he would have been dead right already. "So this is the next challenge, huh? Alright then, bring it on."

…

Sonic, having gotten himself ready physically and mentally for the next ordeal, stepped on the front button repeatedly once again, making the boat move forward at a dangerously fast pace.

The voyage on the lava river became extremely stressful for the blue blur from that moment on.

The lava pillars, this time bigger than the first one, would just shoot up without any warning, making things really difficult for Sonic to captain the boat to clear areas.

Sometimes, many lava pillars of varying sizes would emerge at the same time at various locations, forcing Sonic to quickly make a wise choice of which button to step on. This challenge from the fire deity required the hedgehog to possess great hand-eye coordination to response to all kinds of situations, for he only had a few seconds to make up his mind.

…

At one time, three lava pillars shot up from his front, back and left sides, prompting Sonic to instantly press the right button once, only to almost ram into two other pillars that subsequently erupted in front of him a split second later. Had his reflexes not been quick enough, he would have been turned into grilled hedgehog already, a thought he was never fond of.

"Darn it, this place is seriously dangerous," exclaimed Sonic as he hastily stepped on the button at the back, making the boat move backward a few inches to avoid three lava pillars emerging right in front of him, "How can anyone live in a place like this?"

With many thanks to his superb reflexes and legendary speed, Sonic managed to avoid being burned to death by the unexpected lava towers, albeit barely.

…

Halfway across the vast sea of lava, Sonic was faced with another challenge, this one much deadlier than the previous.

In front of him was not a lava pillar anymore. Instead, it was a huge rock, which completely blocked his path to advance. The surface of the rock was filled with numerous spikes as far as the eyes could see.

In addition, multiple lava pillars constantly and steadily shot up and down in a straight line one by one, with the succeeding one following the preceding one a few seconds later. Sonic stopped paddling the boat and studied the trap very closely, trying to make out what he was supposed to do in response.

'_Now how can I get past that mountain? All I know is that this stupid boat can…move on…lava…YES, I've got it. Oh Sonic, you're a genius!' _he thought before pumping his fist in the air excitedly.

With that, the blue blur quickly moved the boat into the position where the first lava pillar would erupt and uncharacteristically waited for a lava tower to shoot up. Needless to say, the ever-moving speedster instantly got tired of waiting, even though only five seconds had passed.

A second later, the hedgehog's torturous wait was over, and the lava pillar lifted the boat up from the red sea.

Quickly stepping repeatedly on the front button with all he had, Sonic made the boat move forward by travelling on top of the subsequent pillars that followed the first one. The process only took about a minute, and Sonic safely landed on top of the rock mountain, where no spikes were present.

…

Having escaped the deadly trap didn't mean Sonic was free. As soon as the boat hit the rocky surface, it exploded and created a small shockwave that sent Sonic flying forward a few feet, falling face-first on the ground and getting a mouthful of dirt as a result.

"Ouch, was that really necessary?" said the hedgehog as he quickly stood up and dusted the dirt and mud off, "Alright! Never thought I'd be glad to see a rocky surface again" Sonic said as he taped his feet on the ground and smirked.

Out of the blue, the ground began to shake, causing the unsuspected blue blur to instantly whip his head around and take a look. Much to his dismay for the umpteenth time in one day, the entire ground began to crumble and collapse, falling toward the hot sea of lava below.

Not wanting to fall to his doom, Sonic immediately picked up the pace and sped off. From then, it was a race against time as Sonic had to reach the exit before the ground underneath him gave way completely. Needless to say, the speedy hedgehog of blue had to use his top speed and every trick he had to escape the area and make it out alive.

…

It was very intense and nerve-wrecking, even for one like Sonic. Along the way, the hedgehog had to repeatedly use everything he knew, including the Quick Step, Drift, as well as his trademark Sonic Boost to avoid the crumbling ground, falling boulders and frequent lava pillars shooting out unexpectedly from the ground.

After running against the deadly volcano itself for about half an hour, Sonic finally saw something that could be considered the only warm sight for sore eyes in this molten hellhole of a domain: the exit.

'_Finally, I'm almost out,'_ Sonic thought with relief as he sped up even more, trying his best to put a distance between himself and the steadily falling ground behind him.

Making one final leap of faith in the air, the speedster managed to narrowly avoid a huge gap in front of him. After that jump, Sonic ran straight through the rumbling exit in the nick of time before the boulders collapsed, finally getting out of the nightmarish cavern and getting back to the outside world.

…

Wobbly getting to his feet from his latest fall and dusting himself off, Sonic took a moment to take a look around and saw that the exit through which he had escaped was fully sealed shut by a bunch of large boulders, much like the entrance before it.

"That was too close for my liking," muttered the blue blur in annoyance as he shuddered slightly as he remembered about the inside of that volcano. "No way am I ever going back to this place, ever again."

Turning his head around, the hedgehog immediately caught sight of Bartos' gold tower right in front of him and smirked with glee. After all the trouble he had gone through, Sonic had finally arrived at his intended destination in one piece.

"Alright, Baton of the Candle Lights, time for you to burn out," Sonic said confidently before speeding off in the direction of the gigantic tower, ready to face the fiery deity in person.

* * *

**Yeah, once again, I sincerely _hope_ that you enjoy what you read here. The obstacles came across as interesting in my head, but I'm not sure whether I've done a good job of describing it with words or not. **

**Well anyway, next time, we'll have Sonic's own boss battle. Don't miss it. :)**


	16. Chapter 16 - Sonic

**Well, finally, I'm done editing this one after writing two new chapters. It's a little difficult to come up with different attacks for different opponents, but somehow, I managed. Well, I'll just let you decide how I did. Enjoy.**

**Also, another long fight, so please make yourselves comfortable.**

* * *

Molten Destruction – Act 3: Bartos of the Searing Wildfires

After an extremely treacherous journey, Sonic, having cheated death on so many occasions that he had already lost count a long time ago, finally arrived at his designated destination - Bartos' gold tower.

The speedy hedgehog immediately skidded to a stop in front of the marvelous construction and took a short breather, as well as some time to get himself mentally ready for the upcoming showdown with the deadly deity of fiery temper.

Despite Sonic's apparent cockiness, he knew full well just how exceptionally dangerous a bitter and enraged god could be, having learnt from past experiences with various deities of different origins, shapes and sizes.

"Alright, time to finish what I started," said Sonic, with his normal confident tone, before walking toward the sparkling tower.

When the blue blur got close to the place, the earth began to shake violently once more. All of the sudden, a horde of golems emerged from the cracks, cutting him off and surrounding him entirely.

' Oh come on, _not these morons again,'_ Sonic thought begrudgingly and shook his head in annoyance. He then let out an audible sigh before getting into his battle stance, daring his opponents to make their moves.

Just like before, the golems, despite their great sizes and extraordinary brute force, didn't even hold a candle against the blue blur and his legendary speed. The foolish creatures tried in vain to squash the hedgehog, only to get reduced into bits when said hedgehog unleashed multiple well-aimed Homing Attacks and Spin Dashes on them.

The golems' number quickly dwindled at an incredible pace, dropping from more than a dozen to one in a blink of an eye.

Sonic looked at the last remaining molten monster and smirked, "You can either let me pass peacefully and crawl back to the lava pit, or you can try to stop me, knowing full well what's going to happen. So, what's your pick?"

The golem, completely oblivious to the hedgehog's offer, immediately roared mightily and turned its hands into giant cannons, much to Sonic's surprise.

'_Well, that's new'_ he thought.

Without warning, the sentient molten beast shot enormous magma boulders at Sonic, who quickly side- stepped repeatedly to avoid being crushed to death by the incoming objects.

Turning its hands back into claws, the golem sprinted and lunged at Sonic, trying to tear the mortal to shreds. As soon as the golem's outstretched hand was within range, the blue blur grabbed onto it and spin dashed along the entire length of the attacker's appendage. The spin dashing hedgehog then hit its head with a mighty collision, smashing it to pieces and destroying the last of his ambushers.

"Don't say I didn't warn you" said Sonic cheekily as she began to walk away from the scene and headed for the tower.

…

A brief moment later, Sonic opened the gate to the deity's residence and stepped inside. Well, more like he took a page out of Knuckles' book on how to knock this time.

Before the hedgehog attempted to look around and survey the area, he had to cover his eyes almost instantly due to the excessive amount of gold in the room, which assaulted his eyes the moment he stepped inside.

"OUCH, my eyes, my EYES…" Sonic shouted as he tried to block out the shimmering gold inside the well-furnished room. "There is a thing called too much, you know" yelled the hedgehog to no-one in particular.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the new area, Sonic quickly began to ascend the only staircase in front of him and make his way up to the top of the tower. He had a gut feeling that the lord of the tower was residing there. It was a spiral stair that ran around a huge pillar, also made entirely of gold, which supported the entire structure.

As Sonic was making his way for the top floor, he was, more than once, intercepted by the familiar reaper-like apparitions that suddenly emerged from the shadows. However, Sonic easily made short work of them with his trademark homing attack, having already known about their weakness beforehand.

"Lame!" exclaimed the blue blur as he dodged a slash and retaliated with a thunderous axe kick to his attacker's mask-like face, destroying it instantly.

The rest of the trip was smooth and simple for the blue hero, with the only danger being the unannounced appearances of the reapers, which Sonic quickly disposed of as soon as they showed up.

…

After a good half an hour of running nonstop, Sonic finally arrived at a giant gold gate with different gems and jewels embedded on its glittering surface.

"Wow, I bet Rouge would consider this place a paradise if she were here."

Sonic was about to tear the door down like last time, but it suddenly opened on its own, seemingly inviting the hedgehog in for his final challenge within the volcanic domain: a personal duel with the fiery deity, Bartos.

…

Cautiously, Sonic walked through the gate and arrived at a well-lit and extremely spacious room that looked like it could fit two orchestra bands. On the other side of the chamber, Bartos was sitting on his jeweled throne, looking down on the newly-arrived blue blur with an indifferent face.

"Well well, I must congratulate you on your outstanding efforts and performance, mortal cub," said the bald god as he slowly rose to his feet. "You are better than I first anticipated. This game should be very interesting indeed."

"Yeah, it'll be even more interesting when my shoes hit you squarely on the face, old man."

"It would seem that all of my challenges haven't been able to fix your disrespectful attitude toward your elders, mortal. Well, I suppose I'll have to do that personally."

With his mind spoken out loud, Bartos teleported himself to the middle of the battle arena and summoned his flames around his body. The ancient immortal, at that moment, looked like a huge walking torch when the flames completely covered his every feature.

"Now then, are you ready to learn your lessons, rat?"

"For the last time, I'm a hedgehog! Secondly, I've never been eager to go to school," said Sonic sarcastically as he instantly got into his battle stance, "But I suppose I'll learn something new about how to kick vindictive and obsessive creatures' butts…hard. Let's rumble, candle light."

…

Sonic stood still for a moment, trying to figure out how to land a hit on the flaming deity without being severely burned by his fiery armor.

Bartos, on the other hand, quickly took the initiative and shot huge streams of intense flames at his opponent, who swiftly dodged by side-stepping in quick succession and got close to the deity.

The hero of blue was about to execute a homing attack on the burning mystic, but quickly dismissed the thought as soon as it came to mind. Slamming into a walking torch would undoubtedly do more harm than good. With that in mind, Sonic leaped back to keep his distance.

"What's wrong? Am I too hot to handle?" asked Bartos smugly as he released more columns of searing flames at Sonic.

"Dude, that question is disturbing on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin," said the hedgehog as he scrunched up his face to express his rising disgust at the deity's multi-meaning question, which, to him, was more disgusting than anything he had ever heard.

Bartos only growled in irritation and shot more streams of fire at Sonic in an attempt to land a hit on him, but his efforts were unfortunately for naught, for the hedgehog was simply too fast on his feet.

…

After a long while of playing a pointless game of shooting and missing, Bartos gradually started to lose his temper and began to teleport around the room in quick succession.

Whenever he appeared, the ancient immortal created a huge sphere of heat and left it floating in place. Soon the entire chamber was entirely filled with explosive balls of extreme heat that would go off if touched. The spheres Bartos created also served to greatly limit Sonic's moving space, giving the mystic a better shot at landing a hit. After littering the arena with explosive heat balls, Bartos teleported back to the middle of the room and began to charge up power.

"Now you can't escape my clutch, rat," said the deity as he unleashed a barrage of fireballs at Sonic.

"Wanna bet, baldy?" Sonic taunted with confidence as he expertly drifted and evaded the heat balls with great accuracy and speed.

Bartos' fireballs, which endlessly chased Sonic wherever he went, collided with the heat balls and detonated them upon impact. The initial explosion caused a chain reaction, detonating the other heat spheres in the chamber, much to Sonic's horror.

Unfortunately for Sonic, he was caught by the shockwave generated when the heat balls exploded, which sent him flying backward and made him hit the sturdy wall behind with a loud thud.

"That was not cool," said Sonic as he quickly jumped out of the way in the nick of time and narrowly avoided being scorched by an incoming fireball.

"You should have chosen another portal if you had desired a 'cool' place, rat boy" Bartos taunted as he continued to bombard Sonic with a series of fireballs and fire streams.

"How am I supposed to…You know what, I'm not even going to start arguing about that."

…

Sonic began to run around the room and tried his best to figure out a way to hit Bartos without being burned by the flames protecting his body. On the other hand, Bartos continued to bring the heat down on Sonic with a variety of attacks, including fireballs, flamethrower, and heat waves, all of which Sonic managed to escape, albeit barely. However, the resulting heat and explosions resulting from those attacks did manage burn Sonic's skin and quills, but the burns were not very serious.

'_I need to figure out a way and fast,'_ thought Sonic as he studied the deity closely while still running for his life inside the closed chamber.

Suddenly, his eyes caught on to something he hadn't noticed before.

Sonic learned that every time Bartos used his heat waves or his flamethrower attacks, the flames protecting him shifted and concentrated at his hands, exposing his body for a few seconds, before returning back to their original position.

'_Gotcha!'_ Sonic thought with a gleeful grin on his face, '_Time to cool you off, Bartos of the Chandeliers.'_

…

As time went by, Bartos continued to unleash a variety of deadly attacks on Sonic in an attempt to vaporize him, but his adversary always evaded one way or another, making the attacks less effective than they were.

At most, the deity's conjured wildfires only managed to char the hedgehog with their heat, nothing more. However, compared to his opponent, Bartos was in perfect condition, for Sonic had not managed to land a single hit on him.

"I can do this all day long, boy," said Bartos after a maniacal laugh while sending more fire-based projectiles at the moving blue blur.

"Join the club, candle light," Sonic retorted as he swiftly dashed forward and evaded the projectiles.

"Hmph, arrogant brat. I'll reduce you to ashes right now."

Bartos then made good of his threats by using his flamethrower and aiming at Sonic with both hands. The hedgehog, instead of being nervous, smirked slyly, realizing his chance had finally surfaced, and leaped in the air, showing off a little with a few flips before landing nimbly right behind the flaming god, much to his surprise.

Seeing the opponent's completely exposed back due to the absence of the protective flames, Sonic grinned before slamming right into him at an incredible speed, an attack that was greatly augmented by his Sonic Boost technique.

Unable to react quickly enough to the blue blur's sudden maneuver, Bartos was hit squarely on the back by a collision that could very well break through solid concrete. At soon as the blow connected, Bartos let out an agonizing wail and fell forward, his face hitting the marble floor of his own room.

All of the sudden, the smirking face of Sonic appeared before him after a flash of blue.

"Time for you to chill, old man," said Sonic as he performed his routine break-dance move and kicked Bartos' lower jaw with a loud thud, sending the deity skyward.

"You...insolent…" the ancient immortal of fire muttered through clenched teeth.

Bartos was cut off once again when Sonic suddenly appeared right above him out of the blue.

"Cannonball!" yelled the speedster excitedly before curling into a tight ball and executing yet another powerful spin dash attack, this time downward, and crashed directly into the deity's chest with a mighty force. Sonic's latest attack sent his opponent pummeling to the ground with another loud thud. The attack also made Sonic recoil back into the air.

Not stopping there just yet, the daredevil once again unleashed a second downward spin dash. Like last time, the assault hit Bartos, who was still lying on the ground after the previous hit, with an extremely powerful collision. In fact, the force of Sonic's latest maneuver was strong enough to crack the gold floor of the chamber and make the powerful deity let out another cry of agony.

…

There was a lot of smoke as a result of Sonic's latest attack, which clearly did a number on the fallen deity.

"Man, I sure hope that vindictive old man stays down after all that" Sonic muttered as he quickly took a leap back just in case.

The hedgehog's sense of security was proven rewarding, for a giant pillar of flames suddenly erupted and shot out from the smoke screen a moment later, burning the dark veil away and revealing an extremely agitated Bartos with glowing eyes flowing beard. The fuming being clenched his fists and teeth as he shot a glare at the mortal that had disgraced him.

"Crud!" muttered Sonic once again as he smacked his head with his palm, annoyed that his efforts were in vain.

"How dare you disrespect a god in his own domain?" Bartos shouted angrily as he bathed himself in his menacing flames, which were even bigger and more intense than before.

"Hey, if you didn't plan on destroying the worlds, I wouldn't need to," said Sonic as he frowned slightly.

"ENOUGH! You shall burn a million times in hell for disrespecting ME, filthy rat."

Bartos then summoned three giant flame pillars that rotated around his body. The speed of the conjured pillars increased gradually as time passed, and soon, they became a crimson blur surrounding the immortal of fire in the middle.

"Burn! Burn everything to the ground! Reduce that pesky mortal to ashes."

Extremely huge fireballs the size of a car suddenly shot out from the rotating pillars and rained down like meteors on the arena in every direction, much to Sonic's absolute terror. Dodging normal attacks made by the god was hard enough, now he had to deal with an omni-directional attack that could easily take him out if he so much as made one tiny slip.

Frantically running around the spacious arena at top speed to avoid the countless falling supernovas, Sonic strained himself to figure out a way to attack Bartos and stop this madness before his stamina ultimately failed him.

'_The only way to hit Bartos is to jump through the gap between his 'firewalls', hah, Tails would have made a wise crack about that if he were here,_' Sonic thought as he sped up even more and ran around the room in circle so as to avoid the approaching meteors.

"Alright, I've done this before with Eggman's last mech, I just need to do it again, this time with an unfathomably powerful god of destruction capable of reducing me to ashes in a split second. Yeah, no problem" Sonic said silently as he kept a close eye on the rotating pillars, trying to time his leap.

…

After making sure that he had the timing down perfectly, Sonic began to face Bartos' fiery wrath head-on.

The hedgehog immediately curled into a tight ball and unleashed his trademark spin dash on the deity inside the pillars, hoping that he could get through the gap between the dangerous heat pillars.

Sonic's first attempt, however, was unsuccessful, and he had to pay dearly for that as a consequence. His spinning body crashed straight into one of the flame pillars and was instantly sent flying straight to the wall behind him, creating a huge dent on it as a result.

Thanks to the natural protection Sonic always had when he executed his Sonic Boost attack, he wasn't reduced to a crisp, but the damage done was still considerable. The blue blur at the moment was more black than blue, having burn marks everywhere on his body.

"Man, that was hot," said Sonic wryly as he pushed his badly charred body back up just in time to dodge a huge meteor, "But I'm not giving up just yet. Not on this lifetime."

Eyeing the enraged deity once more, Sonic tried his best to calculate his timing from scratch, a feat that hurt him more than all the burn marks combined.

"Ouch, my head…I should have listened to Tails' ramblings about physics more often…Alright, let's do this."

Sonic once again sped up and ran around the room to avoid the meteors like last time, all the while paying close attention to the rotating pillars of fire and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Once he knew for sure his attack would hit, the hedgehog immediately leaped forward and unleashed a second boost attack, this one even more powerful and faster than the last, aiming straight at the deity within the menacing pillars.

Fortunately for Sonic, this time, he succeeded.

His careful timing finally paid off and he was able to get to Bartos through the gap between the spinning pillars. Needless to say, the blue speedster landed a critical hit on the god's face, shocking him and undoing his magic in the process. The fire pillars and the supernovas vanished at the exact moment their caster fell painfully on the ground.

…

"Im…Impossible…" said Bartos as he tried to recover from the latest attack by the blue blur, "A mere mortal…a mere MORTAL managed to defeat ME, Bartos of the Searing Wildfires, in battle? Unfathomable! Blasphemy! Inconceivable!"

"Better 'conceive' that old man, because you just got your butt handed to you," said Sonic breathlessly as he fell down on one knee. The long journey and the intense battle had left the normally energetic hedgehog nearly drained.

"You…you will pay dearly for humiliating me the next time we meet, you insolent little rat."

With that, a sudden burst of flames erupted beneath Bartos and enveloped him. When the flames were gone, so was the deity.

"How many times do I have to tell him that I'm not a rat," yelled Sonic irritably, "I'm a hedgehog. Man, why do super powerful immortal beings always mix up between a rat and a hedgehog?"

Sonic was cut off by a sudden coughing fit. The battle had done a good number on him, and he was almost exhausted from running around too much. It was increasingly difficult for the tired hero to stand up straight, but somehow, through sheer force of will, he managed that feat.

'_Well, I still need to find a way out of this place_…' Sonic thought as he groggily stood up and looked around the room.

To his amazement and relief, a portal appeared in the middle of the room afterwards, allowing him access back to outside domain.

'_Well, gotta give these guys points for their thoughtfulness. At least they stick to their promises.'_

With one final look at the badly damaged chamber, Sonic wobbly walked toward the portal and escaped the volcanic domain.

…

Some time later, a battered, beaten and disgraced Bartos reemerged at an unknown location on the Forbidden Island and sat down on a stone throne; his mind was still filled with thoughts about the mortal hedgehog that had bested him a short while ago.

"How dare he? Disgracing me like that…," said the deity in absolute anger, "I am a GOD, I shall not be defied by a lowly, filthy, rude, disrespectful rodent of mortal origin."

The immortal of fire seemed to have reached his boiling point as flames began to emerge and set his surroundings on fire. The flames, however, disappeared instantly as a figure in grey walked up to the humbled deity.

"I have seen you in better days, Bartos" said Arzazel as he looked down on his fellow comrade.

"That brat was more dangerous than I had originally anticipated. His power was beyond my expectations."

"Yes, that and the fact that you unwisely let your fragile ego cloud your judgment in battle also contributed to your ultimate defeat at the hands of the mortal blue creature."

"How dare you talk to me in that tone? Who do you think you are talking down at me, the great Bartos?"

"I am simply offering you a word of valuable advice, as a fellow lord to another. You can either take it or leave it; that is your decision to make, not mine."

Bartos calmed down and stood up from his throne.

"Next time, I will burn that rat to a crisp. That I swear. Next time, I won't care what happens to the island. You can't stop me from going all out and burning him to the ground."

The ill-tempered immortal then created a portal and disappeared out of the room, leaving the enigmatic leader behind. Arzazel stood still, seemingly lost in his own thoughts for a brief moment before fading into the shadows of the room, returning silence and stillness back to the eerie chamber.

* * *

**Alright, that officially concludes Sonic's stage. Next stop, Character Select. Tell me who you want to read about and I'll post it up. If nobody comes in after two days, I'll pick one myself, and I already have a personal favorite in mind. **

**So then, see you next time. Don't forget to drop a few lines. :)**


	17. Chapter 17 - Shadow

**So, since nobody makes any suggestion or nomination, I'll stick to my word and pick my personal favorite: Shadow. **

**Now, Shadow's stage is simple in design, but for the lone hedgehog, I spice things up by adding more action. You will see that in the next chapter. After all, Shadow is one of the two characters who receive special treatment for their stages. **

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Thunder Palace – Act 1

The moment Shadow stepped through his chosen portal, the hedgehog found himself within the boundaries of a strange, gothic-styled room that looked like it had never been cleaned before. There were spider webs almost everywhere, and the entire chamber was very ancient and run-down. Furthermore, the room was not well-furnished, decorated only with grotesque stone statues of monsters, one singular statue of a gargoyle, and old oil paintings that made absolutely no sense to the hedgehog. However, the strangest thing about the room was the fact that it had neither windows nor doors.

From beyond the walls surrounding the dark place, faint rumbling noises continued to sound, and Shadow's sensitive ears easily managed to pick up.

The dark hedgehog walked forward confidently and began to survey the new area, darting his eyes around and listening tentatively to the smallest of sounds just in case the enemy showed up unannounced.

"What is this place?" Shadow wondered as he examined the furniture and the walls, trying to locate some sort of hidden door that would provide him with an escape.

Thanks to his experience as an undercover agent, Shadow knew everything about the various unorthodox positions, where one would normally keep the hidden switches to operate hidden doors, and searched those places in question first.

After looking around for a while and still finding nothing out of the ordinary, the ultimate hedgehog moved on to examining the singular and curious statue of a gargoyle, which easily stood out above the other statues littered around the chamber, at the far corner of the room.

As soon as his hand touched the gargoyle's head, it fell off and revealed a small red switch, which could probably be the key to getting out of the small confine.

"Trap or exit…either way, I need to move on" said Shadow silently as he pressed the switch.

The moment his finger landed on the red object, the room began to shake for a few seconds before revealing a small door to the left of the statue. Behind the newly discovered path, Shadow could clearly see a staircase leading up.

Without a single word or a moment of hesitation, the lone hedgehog treaded toward the steps and began to ascend it, ready to face whatever challenge the lord of the castle had to dish out.

…

After reaching the end of the staircase, Shadow immediately found himself at a clear field on the outside. To be more precise, he was standing on top of some sort of ancient tower belonging to a very old and ruined castle of the medieval ages.

Another loud bang, accompanied by a torrent and a flash of light, sounded, prompting Shadow to direct his gaze skyward. The hedgehog looked up and noticed the source of the constant rumbling noises: It was raining heavily, and there were claps of thunder every two seconds.

'_A medieval castle with perpetual rainstorm…Some fine taste the gods of this world have'_ Shadow thought as he made his way toward another entrance to the next tower a few yards ahead.

Out of the blue, a large thunder bolt shot at Shadow's position, but the hedgehog, thanks to his incredible agility and sharpness, managed to leap back in the nick of time. The dark agent then turned his attention to the spot where the sudden thunder bolt had stroke and found his target standing in front of him, blocking the path and taunting him with his presence.

The newly-arrived deity was completely shrouded in a dark blue robe, which suggested the nature of the element over which he had perfect and absolute control: rainstorm and thunder that darken the clear sky.

"Greetings, Shadow the hedgehog," said the enigmatic figure in a growl-like voice.

"How do you know my name?" Shadow asked, getting into his battle stance in case the god tried anything funny.

"A simple task for beings such as ourselves, really. We have a lot of free time inside the Sol Emeralds, so we get ourselves familiar with the circumstances of different worlds, yours included of course. Now if I'm not mistaken, you are an experimental being created in a parallel universe that was bestowed with great powers. So great are your powers that your creators, both humans and aliens no less, dubbed you 'The Ultimate Lifeform'. Am I correct?"

"Well, it appears you are well-informed", said Shadow with a smug smirk on his face, "In that case, I'd rather we skip the formality and get straight to me beating you into submission right now."

"Heh heh heh, you're amusing, I like that. Truth to be told, I like to fight guys like you, dark, moody and utterly confident in their abilities. It would be so much more interesting to wipe that smirk off your face and make you scream in sheer terror when I tear you limb from limb, heh heh heh,"

"Big talk for a coward that doesn't even show his face."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the pesky cloak. Arzazel insisted that we wear them at all time. How annoying! I've been wearing it for so long that I'm afraid it's become 'on me', heh heh heh"

Shadow simply remained indifferent toward the god's pathetic attempt at humor. The cloaked deity, on the other hand, quickly grabbed his cloak with a clawed hand and tore it to shreds, revealing a gruesome face of a living, maniacally grinning gargoyle-like monstrosity.

The nightmarish being possessed six huge bat-like wings protruding from his back, two long black horns with red stripes coming out from the top of his bald scalp, and very sharp fangs that showed themselves wholly when the deity grinned.

His bulky, scaly and hardened body was of a shade of grey, much like a statue. He also had sharp blood-red claws where nails should be and huge clawed feet to match the gruesome appearance.

In addition, the deity had a barbed tail, giving him a demonic appearance in general, despite his status as a god. His eyes were amber orbs that were glowing brightly in the dark of night, which would send fear into the very core of those who were unfortunate enough to lay eyes upon this monstrosity at the moment. However, Shadow was neither impressed nor intimidated by the menacing and grotesque monster before him, for the hedgehog had already seen his fair share of horrendous monsters back in his own world.

The gargoyle-like creature then stretched his limbs and tail, and cracked his neck and fingers before turning back to Shadow with a devious grin that seemed to be permanently stuck on his face.

"Allow me to introduce myself once more. I am Daez, but you may call me **Daez of the Roaring Thunders**, one of the seven Lords of Pandemonium."

"Now that's off our chests, let's finish this," said Shadow coolly, ready to launch himself toward the beastly deity and make good of his words. However, said deity simply laughed it off and waved his hand dismissively, much to the hedgehog's annoyance.

"Now where's the fun in finishing things this early?" said Daez before he, once again, burst out laughing like a psychopathic maniac, "You still haven't visited my Thunder Palace yet."

"I'll pass," Shadow stressed decisively before charging at the deity at an impressive speed. When he was within range, the dark hedgehog unleashed an expertly executed roundhouse kick aimed at the head of the beast before him.

Daez, however, easily dodged Shadow's rock-smashing blow by taking to the air with his giant wings, effectively escaping Shadow's reach.

"I insist on your visiting my beautiful and prized domain. You'll find me on top of that tower over there," the deity pointed his disfigured finger at the tallest watchtower in sight and smirked, "Do take your time exploring my castle, though, for it's the last thing you'll ever see in your soon-to-be-over life, heh heh heh."

Another burst of spine-chilling laughter came from the demonic god before another thunder bolt hit him. Shadow had to cover his eyes for a second as the sudden flash assaulted his vision, only to find that Daez had disappeared completely when he opened them again.

"Hmph, Daez of the Roaring Thunders, huh?" muttered Shadow as he looked at the spot where the seemingly mentally unstable deity had once stood. "You want to play cat and mouse, fine, I'll play along. But in the end, even a depraved god of catastrophe must fall at the hands of the Ultimate Lifeform."

With that, Shadow sped off and made his way for the aforementioned watchtower to face the thunderous creature in his domain.

…

Shadow's area was mostly a run on top of the gothic castle.

Along the path, the ultimate hedgehog had to avoid being hit by sudden thunder bolts aimed at him, which was undoubtedly the deity's doing. Due to the heavy torrents, the rocky surface upon which Shadow was speeding became extremely slippery and highly lethal, and the foothold would sometimes collapse without warning, creating huge gaps and dangerous pitfalls.

At other times, the rocky surface would suddenly flip over on its own, revealing sharp and deadly spikes charged with energy. Thanks to Shadow's impressive speed and superb reflexes, however, he managed to leap into the air as soon as the spikes emerged, thereby helping him jump across the sudden appearing gaps and avoiding painful death from being impaled by the booby traps.

"Pathetic! Is this all you have?" Shadow said out loud as he dodged another large thunder bolt aimed at him. At that exact moment, four more thunder bolts stroke him consecutively, but Shadow expertly used his rocket boosters to either side step or speed up, escaping the lethal strikes in the nick of time.

"You're going to have to be faster than that if you want to hit me, Daez," Shadow said confidently with a smirk as he sped up even more.

As time passed, the booby traps along the way increased in intensity and frequency, making things more difficult for the dark hedgehog. The fact that the ground was dangerously slippery didn't help improve the unfavorable situation.

Shadow, with the aid of his trusty rocket shoes, bypassed and responded to any trap he came across almost effortlessly. The Ultimate Lifeform continued to make his way toward the tallest watchtower with unwavering determination, dodging any thunder bolt sent his way and outmaneuvering anything Daez's grotesque Thunder Palace threw at him.

…

After a reasonably long run, Shadow finally arrived at a new entrance to the inside of a small watchtower. The hedgehog frowned slightly, realizing that he could not get to his designated destination without passing through that place first.

Left with no other option, Shadow went inside and entered a new area, awaiting the traps and challenges ahead of him.

* * *

**Alright, that is all for the time being. Next time, we'll experience a lot of action from our favorite GUN agent, and a boss battle the time after that. Don't miss it. For the time being sonicfan1990 signing out.**


	18. Chapter 18 - Shadow

**I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, guys. I've been trying to finish the story and haven't got free time to edit this chapter. Well, the good news is I've finally finished the final boss battle, so all I have to do left is to slow things home. The story should be complete shortly. After that, I will have more free time for editing the old chapters.**

**Well, anyway, this is the second part of Shadow's stage. I'm not going to say anything about this and let you, the readers, decide how I did. Hopefully it is to your liking. Enjoy.**

* * *

Thunder Palace – Act 2: Creeper of the Endless Night

Thanks to the heavy downpour he had endured outside, Shadow was completely drenched from head to toe, but the hedgehog didn't let that trivial fact hinder him in any way.

As soon as he entered the watchtower, Shadow immediately darted his eyes around and surveyed his new surroundings for possible traps and ambushes. The inside of the new place was plain and simple; it only had a stone staircase leading to the top. There were no windows, no door and no furniture in sight.

"For a so-called all-powerful god with absolute influence over storms and thunders, he's a cheapskate" commented Shadow as he began to ascend the staircase while exercising extreme caution.

…

At first, Shadow's journey was smooth and there was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the occasional appearances of some lethally sharp spikes that emerged from the walls and the steps. However, much like the traps on the outside, the traps, though lethal, could do nothing but get on Shadow's nerves. With his high senses and agility, the dark agent easily evaded the spikes and continued on with his journey. A few minutes later, Shadow found himself standing in front of a large wooden door.

Without a moment of hesitation, the Ultimate Lifeform tore it down and entered a relatively big room. As far as he could tell, the new chamber was decorated with more grotesque stuff such as ancient oil paintings, gargoyle statues, and empty suites of armors holding various medieval weapons.

"Something is strange in this room" Shadow muttered as he tried to locate an exit. Although he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, the hedgehog could sense something amiss in the air. The entire atmosphere of the chamber was somewhat eerie and ominous.

Still highly alert, Shadow continued his search. All of the sudden, there was a muffed sound coming from behind the lone hedgehog, which prompted him to immediately whip his head back and get into his fighting pose. Once he did, however, Shadow was met with the veil of darkness that shrouded the place. Whatever the thing that had made that sound was no longer there; or it was doing an exceptionally good job at concealing its presence from the experienced agent.

'_This guy likes to play mind games, huh?'_ Shadow thought as he darted his eyes around the dimly-lit and damp chamber.

The moment the trapped hedgehog turned around to examine at a suite of armor, he suddenly felt the eyes of someone or something glaring at his back and turned around immediately, only to be greeted by deathly silence and still darkness once more. The only things behind him were a bunch of old oil paintings that bore uncanny resemblances to the famed oil works 'The Scream'.

"Something just doesn't feel right here," Shadow muttered as he slowly approached the strange paintings. Something about them was truly amiss.

Shadow then began to examine each painting very closely. There was something about the figures in the pictures that rubbed him the wrong way, especially their empty pupils. The screaming figures' eyes seemed to be directed at him and him alone. Every time he moved, he could swear the eyes were following him, watching him with uttermost interest.

Shadow continued to examine the weird paintings with undivided attention. However, out of the corner of his eye, the alert hedgehog saw a curious flash of light and quickly turned his head toward that direction, only to almost get slashed in half by a huge broadsword that was swung at him at full force.

Shadow, in an instant, grabbed the incoming blade with his fingers, careful to avoid the sharp edge, and snapped it like a toothpick. At that moment, the hedgehog found out the one that had dared to attack him; an animated suite of armor that he had been looking at a few minutes ago.

Inside the iron helmet were two shining orbs of crimson that were looking directly at Shadow, but that didn't even scare the Ultimate Lifeform one bit. The armor then shot itself toward Shadow in an attempt to impale him with what was left of its sword, only to get brutally disassembled by the hedgehog, courtesy of a spin dash.

"I know there are more of you," Shadow stated coolly as he looked around the room, "Come out and fight, cowards!"

As soon as Shadow finished his sentence, every object in the room began to move on their own. The other armors grabbed their swords and looked at him. From the curious paintings, the screaming figures emerged and hovered around the room like ghosts. The gargoyle statues came to life as well, baring their fangs and roaring mightily as they held their giant axes in their hands.

"Hmph, a pathetic haunted house for little kids," Shadow muttered with a smug smirk on his face, "Even the Doctor can do better than this. Come and get me, weaklings."

…

Upon his challenge, the animated objects immediately charged at the surrounded hedgehog at the same time and unleashed a series of brutal attacks. The armors and the statues swung their weapons around carelessly in a futile attempt to land a hit on Shadow, who easily and almost effortlessly evaded the slashes with his trusty skaters.

Shadow then retaliated by destroying a nearby armor with a powerful kick to its torso and grabbing its broadsword. He then continued on to making mincemeat out of the charging statues and armors at a speed that could not be perceived by the naked eye. The veil of darkness shrouding the room was also used to the skilled agent's advantage, serving as his means of camouflage.

Once he had finished off the last of the persistent statues, Shadow directed his attention to the hovering ghosts that had just escaped from their picture frames. The ghosts, seeing their incoming target, opened their mouths really wide and began to attack by releasing a deafening scream that practically shook the entire foundation of the tower.

The scream made Shadow wince a bit, mostly due to his extremely sensitive ears. However, the ultimate hedgehog quickly recovered and swung his broadsword at the hovering specters, only to cut through thin air.

"Pesky creatures," Shadow grunted in annoyance as he rolled away from the shockwave generated by the high-pitched screams.

The dark agent looked at the ghosts for a little while to study their movements and found that they had been hovering at the same spot ever since they appeared, a fact that made him consider the possibility that they were trying to protect something of great importance.

Shadow looked at the spot where the ghosts were hovering and smirked as realization kicked in.

"So that's your weakness" he said.

With a sprint, the hedgehog disappeared and reappeared at the other side of the room in a split second and got past the horde loudmouthed ghosts.

Once he'd found his targets, Shadow swung his weapon horizontally and slashed all of the paintings on the wall, where the ghosts had emerged from, at the same time.

As soon as the pictures were split in half, the hovering creatures began to wail in agony for a short while before fading into nothingness.

"All too easy," Shadow stated as he threw the sword away, no longer requiring it.

Once the last of the ghosts faded away, the room began to shake and an entrance showed itself, revealing another staircase leading up. Without taking a break, the Ultimate Lifeform instantly headed toward the exit and continued his journey.

…

Along the way, Shadow was greeted by the same booby traps as before. However, new ones were added to the mix, such as acid shooters, indoor thunder bolts generated by conductors that poked out from the steps. Also hordes of murderous statues and armors also appeared to hamper his progress.

Despite the odds, Shadow easily escaped all of the traps unscathed and dispatched the animated objects without even breaking a sweat. After the destruction of his obstacles, the hedgehog continued to ascend the stairs.

The run lasted about fifteen minutes before Shadow came across another wooden door at the end of the steps. Unlike the last door, this one was painted black with a spider web design carved on it.

'_Another trick, I presume,'_ Shadow thought as he cautiously opened the door and stepped inside.

…

The room Shadow was currently in at the moment was oval and had little lighting as usual. The place looked totally empty and extremely dirty.

"What is this place?" Shadow wondered as he slowly walked into the center of the area and looked around.

At the exact moment the hedgehog reached the center of the room, his ears picked up a strange growling sound right above him. Looking up, he found the sole resident of this filthy chamber looking down at him with its numerous glowing eyes.

The hanging creature was a huge arachnid that bore great resemblances to an overgrown Yellow Sac spider. It possessed at least eight crimson orbs for eyes, which were glaring at its prey with murder intent. Two giant blood-red scythes charged with lightning replaced a normal spider's fang.

Without warning, the menace dropped down in an attempt to crush Shadow to death with its humongous size, but the hedgehog quickly jumped out of the way in the nick of time.

When the spider was in plain sight, Shadow could see its features more clearly. Its legs were also sharp scythes like its fangs, and its abdomen, decorated with spider web patterns, was twice as big as its body.

"Like master, like pet. You really are ugly beyond comprehension, creature," Shadow spoke before he got into his battle stance, ready for his encounter with the newly-emerged monstrosity.

…

Naturally, Shadow waited for his opponent to make the first move in order to assess its capabilities. The spider, seemingly tired of waiting around, roared and jumped at its prey while baring its scythe-like fangs, an attack that Shadow easily dodged by dashing underneath it.

The moment the huge monster hit the ground, its fangs unfortunately got stuck, effectively exposing its abdomen to Shadow. Seeing his chance, the hedgehog immediately capitalized and attacked it with a powerful Homing Attack.

The sudden assault made the creeper scream out in pain, its voice shaking the entire room. After a few seconds, its large body began to break apart and turned into thousands of smaller spiders of ordinary size, all of which began to crawl around the room.

The small spiders then rapidly shot cobwebs at Shadow, who tried his very best to dodge by leaping and skating around the room in circle.

'_This thing is trickier than I thought' _

The small spiders continued to keep the pressure on their prey. Despite his amazing speed and reflexes, Shadow couldn't possibly dodge every web shot at him by the miniature creatures, and the fact that his moving space was restricted by the room did not help his case. Some webs actually managed to land on the hedgehog's body. As soon as the cobwebs touched his fur, Shadow instantly got zapped by an extremely powerful current of electricity, and was momentarily stunned for a few seconds.

Seizing that precious chance, the mini spiders approached Shadow and crawled on him. Due to their razor-sharp legs, Shadow felt the painful stings as they slowly crept on his form. After recovering from the temporary paralysis, the Ultimate Lifeform shook the pesky spiders off his fur at once and squashed about a dozen of them to the ground with his feet.

The other spiders, seeing that the effect of their attacks had worn off, quickly retreated and regrouped. They all gathered together in one place and fused into the original giant arachnid. The huge spider let out another deafening roar and began to slash Shadow mercilessly with its lethal legs and fangs.

'_How annoying!' _thought the lone agent as he dodged the consecutive and relentless electricity-charged slashes the monster executed.

After a while, the spider finally relented and shot a string of web from its abdomen at the ceiling. It then pulled its giant body up in the air, completely out of Shadow's reach.

Once airborne, the menacing arachnid shot large electrifying nets of webs at its prey on the ground. Shadow once again began to move around the room in order to dodge the incoming nets, which he knew were far more powerful than the little cobwebs that had previously hit him.

Shadow narrowly avoided being trapped by an extra large net shot at him as he dashed around the place, much to his relief.

"Not only do I have to watch out for attacks from above, I also have to watch out for the webs on the ground," muttered the running hedgehog in irritation, "This thing is starting to get on my nerves."

…

After a few minutes of assaulting Shadow with an endless series of electrically-charged webs, the spider lowered down, just above the ground a few inches, and held its legs and fangs out at full length. It then began to spin, swinging its suspending body around the room in an attempt to slice Shadow to pieces.

Instead of being mindful and worried, Shadow actually smirked in delight when the creature came down, knowing that he could now deliver a hit or two.

When the hellish arachnid started to spin, Shadow watched out for its outstretched limbs and timed his attack carefully. Once he was certain, the hedgehog leaped into the air and grabbed onto one of the arachnid's scythe-like leg, avoiding the sharp edges.

Trying to balance himself on top of the creature's leg, Shadow leaped forward once again and unleashed a second homing attack on the beast's abdomen, effectively cutting off the string keeping the monster airborne and making it fall on the ground with a loud thud.

Not letting his opponent recover, Shadow immediately closed in on the down arachnid and attacked its weak point with a powerful axe-kick, which was subsequently followed by another homing attack The force of the hedgehog's brutal assault made the monster wail in agony and forced it to turn into small spiders one more time.

'_If I remember correctly, these small spiders fuse together to form that huge abomination. If that's the case, then I bet the monster's size will be greatly diminished if I can take out as many of these diminutive pests as possible' _Shadow deduced.

Putting his theory to the test, Shadow instantly dashed around the room and squashed the small spiders as quickly as he could before they regrouped. The speedy hedgehog crushed some by stomping on them, while using his shoes to brutally incinerate others. At the same time, he had to be extremely careful so as to avoid being zapped by the creatures' deadly cobwebs.

The number of tiny spiders quickly reduced in after short while, and the remaining ones soon retreated to the corner of the room to fuse together.

Soon, the process was complete and the original monstrosity reemerged once more, baring its fangs at its persistent prey. However, the sight of the creature brought a smirk to Shadow's face, for his theory had been proven correct. The spider, though still large, was nothing compared to its initial size, which the hedgehog had carefully noted.

"Got you now, ugly," said Shadow as he launched himself toward the dreadful arachnid, dodged its fangs, stepped on its eyes and performed another axe-kick on its exposed abdomen.

While the creature was still in pain, Shadow quickly zoomed in for another strike. The hedgehog quickly grabbed its fangs, ignoring the zap, and threw the enormous monstrosity into the opposite wall with all his strength. The force of the toss was so strong that the spider's body immediately broke into smaller arachnids upon impact.

From that moment on, Shadow simply played a game of squash as he tried to crush as many tiny creepers as possible while avoiding their cobwebs and lethal slashes.

When they gathered together to make the big spider, whose size had become much smaller than its original size, Shadow used the same tactics that he had been using since the beginning of the fight and aimed at its weakness, causing enough damage and forcing it to split it into smaller arachnids again.

The Ultimate Lifeform continued to repeat the steps and soon, the once gigantic spider was reduced to a pathetic creature, roughly the size of the dark hedgehog.

…

In its moment of desperation, the weakened beast got airborne again and shot a web large enough to cover the entire room in an attempt to trap and zap Shadow to death.

The hedgehog, however, used his sharp quills to cut through the incoming net, trying his best to endure the pain caused by the powerful current, and dashed along the wall. He continued to skate on the wall in circle to gain enough speed and momentum before leaping at the spider and knocking it out with a final homing attack.

The attack landed a critical hit on the target, making it drop to the ground instantly, thrashing in pain and fading into nothingness a few seconds later.

The battle was finally over, with Shadow emerging as the victor.

…

Once the spider had disappeared completely, the room began to shake violently and a hidden door revealed itself to the dark hedgehog. From where he was, Shadow could see rain and thunder through the exit, which meant he had cleared the watchtower. From that moment on, he could resume his journey to his designated destination to fight against the ruler of the thunderous domain, Daez.

"That was a complete waste of my time," Shadow grunted as he got out of the demonic spider's lair and made a beeline for the highest watchtower in sight, where the lord of the castle patiently awaited his arrival.

* * *

**That is all for now, the next chapter will feature Shadow's boss battle with the lord of thunder himself, and it is one of the battles that I especially enjoyed writing about. Wait and see, everyone. **

**sonicfan1990 signing out.**


	19. Chapter 19 - Shadow

**Finally, I've finished the entire story, hell yeah! Now, I have more time to edit the older chapters and make put them up for everyone to read (if you're interested of course).**

**Well, this is the last part of Shadow's stage. I hope you'll enjoy reading it like I enjoyed writing it. Oh, and please select the next one to go. We only have Blaze and Espio left, so the next nomination will also be the last (for the time being). **

**Without further ado, here is our favorite agent's boss battle. Enjoy.**

* * *

Thunder Palace – Act 3: Daez of the Roaring Thunders

The journey after the dreadful arachnid's lair was relatively easy _for Shadow_ (with great emphasis on 'for Shadow'), it was a merely repetition of all the happenings that had taken place at the earlier stages of the hedgehog's quest, but with more traps set along the path.

Like before, Shadow had to continue on forward under extremely unfavorable weather conditions and was forced to endure countless hidden traps that were littered everywhere he treaded. During the entire course of the journey, the dark hedgehog had to b mindful to avoid being struck by the constant yet unpredictable thunder bolts.

Also, the animated suites of armors and monster statues also made their appearances as obstacles to hinder Shadow's advance, but as usual, they posed no real threat to the skilled agent for he quickly and brutally disposed of them in many conceivable and inconceivable methods available to him.

"I'm almost there," Shadow said quietly as he directed his gaze at the great watchtower, which was now much clearer and closer than ever.

Without wasting any more precious time, the crimson-striped hedgehog pressed on, skillfully dodging the deadly traps along his path and swiftly taking down any enemy that dared to enter his sight.

…

After a relatively long while, Shadow finally managed to arrive at his final destination inside the thunderous and stormy domain. The watchtower was a real construction of marvel that would interest even the toughest of critics, but the hedgehog hadn't come all this way to go sight-seeing.

'_All I need to do now is to get to the top of this place and take care of Daez, then I'm out of here,' _

Shadow immediately sprinted forward and headed inside the enormous tower shortly afterward.

…

Once inside, Shadow had to deal with even more troubles as he made his way to the top.

The enemies now showed up in large number and were armed with an abundance of lethal weapons. However, with his unequaled skills and instincts, Shadow swiftly made short work of any animated object or ghost that was stupid enough to cross him.

Moving objects were not the only thing the Ultimate Lifeform had to watch out for. The tower was heavily rigged with a variety of traps, including indoor cannons, acid shooters mounted on the ceiling and walls, lightning rods, electrically-charged spikes on moving flatforms, acid pools that spelled instant demise, enormous swinging pendulums, falling ceilings, and many more.

With his lightning-quick reflexes and well-honed skills, Shadow resiliently pressed on and managed to overcome all of those traps, albeit with some difficulty.

After about a good half an hour of nonstop moving, dodging and battling, the hedgehog finally reached the final challenge of his chosen domain waiting for him at the top of the tower. Shadow, without hesitation, tore down the door leading to the roof of the watchtower and stepped out into the perpetual rainstorm again.

Once he was out, the Ultimate Lifeform spotted the prey he had been chasing after the entire time standing forlornly in the middle of a round-shaped battle arena.

Daez had been standing still at this spot the entire time, silently and intently watching Shadow as he tried his best to overcome all of his challenges and destroyed his minions.

The mighty deity immediately directed his piercing orbs at Shadow the moment the hedgehog stepped out of the tower, and he did so with a huge grin on his hideous face, one that suggested the deity of thunder had been expecting his opponent's eventual and inevitable arrival.

"Finally, you have arrived," Daez said with amusement and clapped to congratulate Shadow's efforts in passing his tests, "You actually arrived sooner than I first anticipated. I suppose that is to be expected of the Ultimate Lifeform. Heh heh heh."

"Was that supposed to be sarcasm?" asked Shadow coolly as he approached the menacing deity before him with caution.

"Hardly. Beside Arzazel, I am pretty much the only one among us seven to hand out credit and actually mean it. And in this case, you've certainly earned my congratulations, Shadow. You should feel honored. Heh heh heh."

"How about we fast forward to the part where I beat you to a bloody pulp and put an end to your genocidal scheme, Daez? I didn't come all this way for a chit chat."

"My my, you are indeed straightforward, I like that about you, heh heh. Alright, if you insist, we can begin our rumble right here, right now. Heh heh. The Lord of Roaring Thunders versus the Ultimate Lifeform, this should prove to be quite an interesting showdown, heh heh heh."

With that said, Daez spread and flapped his wings, creating a mighty burst of wind that made Shadow take a step backward. The gargoyle-like immortal then soared to the sky, ready for his showdown with his lone challenger. Shadow, keeping a close eye on his opponent's movements, also got into his battle stance and prepared himself for the god's attacks.

"Alright, Shadow," shouted the deity with a booming voice so loud that it made the happening claps of thunder in the background sound like a muffed snore, "Here I come."

Shadow, on the other hand, said nothing. Instead, he gave the hovering thunder manipulator his undivided attention and closely studied his movements.

And thus, the battle began.

…

Daez was the first to make his move.

Almost instantly, the gargoyle raised his hands and began to assault Shadow with a series of powerful thunder bolts. In response, Shadow quickly dashed around the place in circle and managed to avoid all of the deity's bolts without sustaining any damage. However, even with his speed, outrunning thunder and lightning was a tedious task, not to mention lethal should he get hit or trip.

Shadow continued to dodge the thunder bolts shot at him, all the while keeping his eyes focused on Daez, who was still hovering in the air and completely out of the hedgehog's reach.

'_If I could only get close to him' _Shadow thought as he ran around the arena to avoid the deadly bolts, trying to come up with a method to retaliate.

"What's wrong, Shadow?" Daez taunted with a maniacal cackle as he continued to keep the pressure on his challenger, "Don't tell me you're trying to defeat me by running around in hope of making me dizzy?"

Daez then pointed his index finger, aiming at Shadow, and shot an incredibly large sphere of thunder at the running hedgehog. Thanks to his concentration on his enemy, Shadow narrowly avoided being struck by the energy ball. That attack, however, gave the resourceful and cunning agent a way to get close to the hovering thunder god.

As soon as the thunder sphere made contact with the ground, medium-sized rocks were sent flying everywhere due to the powerful shockwave the energy ball generated. Shadow looked at the flying rocks and smirked mysteriously.

"One tiny ball, is that all you've got, Daez?" asked the dark hedgehog smugly as he continued to circle the arena.

"Of course not, I've got plenty more where that came from," replied the grinning deity as he unleashed a barrage of spheres at Shadow.

The powerful bombardment caused a lot of damage to the battle arena, and to a certain extent, Shadow himself, due to the resulted shockwave and explosions. Like with the first sphere, the ground was shattered upon impact and rocks of all shapes and sizes were sent flying everywhere, much to Shadow's delight.

In one quick motion, the hedgehog leaped into the air and used his homing attack to zoom in on the scattered rocks. He hit one then moved on to another and continued the process until he finally got close to the hovering deity, who was expressing his great surprise by raising his brows.

"Got you now, monster," Shadow said as he uncurled and launched a perfectly executed and equally powerful roundhouse kick to the side of the thunder immortal's head, shocking the deity out of his surprise.

The attack landed directly on its target, and Daez was momentarily stunned in place when the pain set in.

Keeping up the momentum, Shadow immediately flipped in mid-air and delivered another skull-crushing axe kick to the top of the gargoyle's scald, sending him pummeling to the ground as a result.

Not wasting his precious chance, Shadow followed up by curling into a tight ball of protection and unleashed another Homing Attack downward, heading straight to the exact spot where the god had fallen.

Daez was dazed by Shadow's consecutive kicks, so he wasn't able to stand up at the moment due to his spinning head and blurry vision. When his vision cleared, he saw, much to his dismay, Shadow's ball form hurling straight at him.

Unable to react quickly enough to his opponent's incoming attack, the fallen god received the full force of the hedgehog's technique, which created a huge explosion and a thick smoke screen upon impact.

…

After landing hard on Daez, Shadow quickly jumped out of the smoke screen to keep his distance just in case his opponent tried something funny. The hedgehog soon learned that he had indeed made a wise decision, for a second later, the spot where the immortal had been grounded exploded with thunder bolts. A moment later, Daez stepped out of the smoke screen, completely unscathed and unharmed. The gargoyle then snapped his neck, creating a nasty cracking noise when his bone snapped back in place.

"Heh heh heh, well done, Shadow," said the thunderous deity with his ever present grin of malice plastered on his face, "I think you broke my neck just then with your first kick. Impressive! This is the first time anyone has ever hit me that hard, heh heh heh."

"Hmph, you're tougher than you look, Daez," Shadow stated plainly as he quickly prepared himself for the god's upcoming onslaught.

"Of course, I am among the most powerful gods of destruction after all, heh heh heh. Alright, time for some payback. En garde!"

…

Daez then began to charge up, surrounding his being with a powerful barrier made of lightning, and in an instant released the pent-up energy in a wide radius blast, sending lightning bolts out in every direction. The sudden attack caught Shadow off-guard and knocked him back, all the while painfully electrocuting him.

Shadow tried to ignore the pain and quickly pulled himself up to his feet, only to come face-to-face with the diabolical grinning mug of the deity. The maniacal grin grew wider for a while, followed by a taunt of "Gotcha!", before the thunder immortal opened his mouth and shot a powerful beam of energy, blasting Shadow away and inflicting even more damage to the hedgehog.

Shadow growled in pain as the sudden beam hit him at point-blank range. He felt numb all over as a result, and it was with sheer force of will that allowed the hedgehog to get to his feet and joined in the battle once more.

"Oh, you're still standing? You really are an amazing opponent after all. Though I sincerely do not know whether to consider this an act of bravery or an act of suicide, heh heh," said Daez teasingly before he unleashed numerous thunder arrows at his wobbly opponent, who managed to get out of the way in the nick of time before getting reduced to nothingness.

However, Shadow was not in the clear just yet, for Daez, in an instant, appeared in front of him and backhanded the stunned hedgehog, sending him flying into a nearby tower. The force of the collision was strong enough to smash the giant construction into bits upon impact.

"I have to admit, you are fast Shadow. However, I seem to have forgotten to mention one tiny bit of info about me. Due to my element, I am perceived as the fastest among the seven gods, heh heh heh" said Daez proudly with a pretentious bow of his head, "Not that it can help you get out of this battle alive, hedgehog."

Daez then quickly coated himself with his elemental armor and converted his body into living lightning. In an instant, he roared and shot himself at Shadow. The hedgehog, still dazed after the previous assault, saw the incoming lightning bolt and quickly rolled out of the way, narrowly escaping an excruciating electrocuting session as a result.

In one quick motion, Daez, now normal once again, whipped his head around and shot a barrage of thunder spheres at his grounded opponent, all of which Shadow managed to evade, but not entirely unscratched this time.

After shooting for quite a while, the thunder deity roared and turned himself into a lightning bolt once more and made a beeline toward his challenger. Unlike last time, Shadow had been anticipating such an assault from the malicious immortal, and quickly dodged by performing a well-timed baseball slide underneath his body.

At the exact moment when Daez's form was right above Shadow's sliding form, the tenacious hedgehog quickly twisted his body around, put his hands on the ground to stop his own body and delivered a powerful rocket-boosted kick to the god's abdomen with his remaining leg, straining himself to endure another session of electrocution when his foot made contact. The attack managed to break through Daez' elemental armor and hit the deity's flesh, which immediately stopped him in his track and undid his magic as a result.

Shadow, capitalizing the opportunity, quickly got up and grabbed Daez's horns, slamming the gargoyle onto the hard surface of the arena with all his strength. The toss clearly did a number a Daez as he released a blood-curling scream when his body hit the hard rocky floor.

Jumping on top of the fallen immortal, Shadow proceeded to mercilessly pounding his enemy with an endless series of punches to the sides of his head, causing considerable amount of damage to Daez as a result.

…

After enduring the excruciating pain for a while, Daez's eyes snapped open. Without warning, his body turned into a lightning again, shocking Shadow and causing him to get off. The menacing deity then bolted up and flew toward the sky, all the while throwing more thunder spheres at the lone agent below.

Shadow, using the same strategy as before, waited for the spheres to hit the ground, causing debris to go flying all over the place, and used them as stepping stones to approach his target.

Soon, Shadow managed to get close enough to land another hit. However, Daez, having learned from his previous failure, launched a thunder-charged punch at the approaching hedgehog.

Using his lightning-fast reflexes, Shadow instantly wrapped both hands around the thunderous fist, trying his best to withstand the almost unbearable pain caused by electrocution, and tossed Daez toward the ground once more.

Even though Daez was able to break his fall and stop himself halfway in the air, he was subsequently smacked in the back by another acutely timed homing attack by the Ultimate Lifeform, the force of which sent him pummeling the rest of the way and made him fall face-first on the ground once more.

…

Daez wobbly stood up, massaging his broken nose and snapping it back in place. He then turned around to look at Shadow, who had just landed nimbly a little distance away.

Even after all the hits he had taken, Daez still wore his ever present grin on his deformed mug, which clearly showed how much fun he was having despite the amount of damage that had been inflicted upon him by his skilled adversary.

On the contrary, Shadow was feeling rather tired from the long battle with the thunder immortal, but he forced his body to stand up straight in preparation for the deity's upcoming attacks.

"Heh heh heh, good show, Shadow, good show!. To think there is someone fast enough to catch me, even when I'm at my best…Truly magnificent indeed. You truly deserve my praises."

"I'm not here to seek your meaningless approval, Daez. Now let's finish this" Shadow said with finality in his voice, which made Daez cackle maniacally, causing the darkened sky to rumble as another clap of thunder appeared.

"Yes, let's" the fiendish immortal said before he began to store up energy for his next attack.

…

Without warning, Daez teleported to the center of the battle arena and enveloped his entire body with his lightning to achieve temporary invulnerability.

"Try this on for size, Ultimate Lifeform," shouted the excited immortal as he slowly levitated off the ground.

A moment later, Daez began to spin at an incredible pace in place as he discharged two long columns of thunder spheres from his outstretched arms. The gargoyle's technique was a sure-kill if Shadow made a single slip up and got hit by the either column of energy orbs.

Using his skaters, Shadow dashed around the arena at an incredible speed, trying his best to remain within the gap between the two columns in order to avoid an instant demise.

As time passed, Daez's spinning increased in speed and his attack in power. Over time, two new columns emerged from his palms, making things even harder for Shadow. The orbs of energy gradually became larger and larger, greatly limiting the hedgehog's moving space. Due to his undivided concentration on the lethal columns, Shadow continuously got stroke by some thunder bolts from above. Luckily for the hedgehog, he still managed to maintain his speed and stayed within the gap.

To make things worse, the thunder bolts became more frequent as well.

…

The technique lasted a good half an hour before Daez's body finally returned to its original shade. The lightning protecting him started to fade, taking the immortal's invulnerability with it as a result.

Daez landed on the ground and began to summon a series of thunder halberds, arrows and spheres and launched them at Shadow, who quickly evaded and closed in on the deity in the process.

In one quick motion, Shadow, once within range, sunk his knee to his opponent's abdomen, which was then followed up by an uppercut to the jaw, sending the dazed god skyward.

Before Daez got out of his reach, Shadow quickly leaped into the air and unleashed a devastating homing attack, slamming the immortal's body into the opposite tower. The force of the collision was more than enough to knock the entire thing down almost instantly.

…

After his latest attack, Shadow panted heavily from exhaustion and dropped to one knee. Even though he was strong, there was still a limit to how much damage he could endure. The weakened hedgehog directed his glare at the debris and tried to spot Daez among the smoke.

Once the smoke screen cleared, Shadow saw the figure of the gargoyle-like deity still standing, with his malicious grin still stuck on his diabolical face, much to the hedgehog's dismay.

"Heh heh heh, that…was a very exciting battle, Shadow the hedgehog…" the thunder manipulator stated breathlessly before he too dropped down on one knee and started panting heavily.

Shadow didn't say anything in reply. Instead, he tried his best to ignore his injuries and pushed his battered body up once again. Seeing the cautious hedgehog before him made Daez burst out laughing like a madman, making thunder and lightning boom up in the sky.

"No need to worry, Shadow," Daez said calmly as he slowly and painfully stood up and dusted himself off, "You won this round."

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked with wariness in his voice, still suspicious of the demonic creature's agenda before him.

"At ease, soldier," Daez said jokingly and waved his hand around dismissively, "I'm a man of chivalry and I mean what I say. I honestly doubt I'm in any condition to fly anymore," the deity then pointed at his wings, showing his opponents huge tears on each of them. In fact, Shadow was quite certain that four out of six were broken, judging from the way they bent. "You won the battle, but not the war. Next time we meet, which is very soon, I'll see to it that you are wiped out of existence for sure."

"You're planning on running away?"

"How rude! I prefer to call it a 'strategic retreat', if you don't mind, heh heh heh. Well then, so long."

With that said, the thunder immortal disappeared in a flash of thunder, leaving his disturbing laughter to echo throughout the entire domain.

After the god's departure, a portal leading back to the Forbidden Island appeared.

Without another word, Shadow made his way toward the exit and finally got out of the rainstorm that forever haunted the Thunder Palace.

…

Elsewhere…

Daez slowly and painfully walked into a dimly-lit room and began to assess the extent of damage he had been dealt with a gleeful grin on his face.

"My oh my, this is the first time in millennia that I've ever been reduced to this sorry state of being, heh heh heh. Dang it! My wings are killing me, and my back hurts like hell. That Shadow character really is something else."

"Indeed, I find it quite surprising that you of all people would forfeit the match to your challenger, Daez," said a calm and soft voice behind him, which prompted the defeated thunder gargoyle to turn around and face the newly-arrived guest. However, in that calm tone, a slight hint of anger and disappointment was evident.

"Well, that Shadow has some pretty slick moves and nice tricks up his sleeves, Arzazel. You should really exchange fists with him next time around. I'm quite sure that it'll be quite an 'electrifying' experience, heh heh heh."

"Much as I am interested in testing the boundaries of the powers possessed by an alien being dubbed the Ultimate Lifeform, I have much more pressing matters to tend to," replied the cloaked Arzazel as he walked toward Daez and shot him with a glare.

"Fine, that's your loss, my lord. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a sewing machine and a grinder to fix my wings; the blasted things are killing me here. I'll be in my chamber taking a nap afterward if you need anything else. Ciao."

With that, Daez quickly teleported out of the room and left Arzazel behind to think about the latest developments of events, which were not at all favorable to his plans.

"Things seem to have taken a rather interesting turn. But for better or worse…that remains to be seen," Arzazel muttered under his breath before fading into the eerie shadows of the room.


	20. Chapter 20 - Espio

**As per greenone15's request, Espio is up and raring to go.**

**Espio's stage is rather short, due to the fact that I ran out of ideas. Well, he was the last character I wrote about, after all. However, I tried my best to compensate for that by making the battles as exciting and detailed as possible, so maybe it's not too shabby.**

**Anyway, do enjoy our favorite ninja in action de gozaru yo. **

* * *

Sky Temple – Act 1

Espio was immediately overtaken by a blinding burst of light after stepping through his selected portal and was subsequently transported to a different location.

When the chameleon opened his eyes and scanned the new landscape, he found himself standing on a bridge made of wood. If it had been just any ordinary bridge, there wouldn't have been any cause for alarm or surprise. However, Espio soon realized that the bridge he was standing on was floating in the air, for he could clearly see a really long way down when he poked his head outside the handle.

In a addition, Espio could instantly feel the incredibly strong gusts that would have blown him off his foothold if he hadn't planted his feet on the ground first.

'_What is this place?'_ Espio thought to himself as he continued to survey the windy domain.

After a short while, the Chaotix ninja came to the conclusion that there was only one way to advance, and that was forward. To Espio, the suspended bridge appeared to be extremely long, seemingly endless to be more specific.

'_Well, I'd better get going and finish my assigned mission.'_

With his objective locked, Espio immediately sprinted and dashed against the strong gusts to make his way forward, feeling ready to face the challenges and the ruler of this magical domain.

…

The powerful wind that hindered his advance became stronger and stronger as time passed, forcing Espio to run at his top speed in order to not to get thrown off the flying bridge and into his impending doom.

Thanks to his training, though, the fuchsia chameleon managed to hold his ground with his strength and steadily made his way forward. He might not be as strong as his de-facto leader, Vector, but the ninja's strength was still considerable and not to be trifled with.

Initially, his run was smooth, for there was nothing to obstruct his path save for the deadly gusts. However, things soon changed for the worse for the lone Chaotix investigator.

All of the sudden, Espio heard some flapping noise and spotted a few crows flying toward his position.

Knowing that he was in the enemy's lair, Espio instantly recognized the incoming creatures as potential threats that must be dealt with. However, being a patient individual he was, Espio didn't attack just yet. Instead, he waited for the birds to get close, and then acted accordingly.

When the creatures entered his field of vision, Espio was able to see them clearly. They mostly resembled ordinary ravens, if one didn't take into account the fact that they had two sets of wings instead of one.

As soon as the mysterious creatures got close enough to Espio, they immediately let out a piercing cry and swooped down, charging at the lone chameleon at an impressive speed, which was greatly augmented by the strong air current blowing in their favor.

"I was right," Espio muttered without any hint of surprise as he got himself ready to counter the creatures' assault, "They are the enemies."

When the dark menaces were close enough to hit, Espio instantly turned invisible and disappeared from their view. Needless to say, the ravens' attack hit thin air as a result and they were extremely confused, for the chameleon had long left his initial position and was in camouflage mode.

Before the strange demonic birds could take to the sky again, Espio reemerged right above their heads. Using the air current to his advantage this time, the skilled chameleon ninja threw a barrage of shuriken at his opponents, whose speed was also greatly enhanced by the favorable flow or air.

Espio's aim was, as always, superb and spot-on. The flying projectiles hit their intended targets right on top of their heads with deadly precision, making the unearthly familiars cry out in agony when the pain set in.

A few moments later, the ravens slowly disappeared into nothingness, leaving only their feathers floating around the area where they had been slain.

'_That was easy,'_ Espio mused as he landed nimbly on the ground and examined one remaining feathers, _'But I sense a disturbance in the air. These crow-like creatures were merely scouts and expendable pawns, nothing more. I'd better proceed with utmost caution in this place.'_

With that, Espio let go of the feather he was holding and allowed the powerful winds take it to wherever it went. The chameleon then turned around and sped off again, continuing his journey on the magically suspended bridge.

…

A few moments later, Espio finally spotted a landmark that bore uncanny resemblances to a Shinto gate and a very long stone staircase that seemed to lead toward a location high above, which he couldn't see from where he was.

'_A shrine?' _the chameleon thought to himself as he examined the familiar structure before him. In fact, Espio was no stranger to the design of the gate, for he had seen it many times in the past.

"If this is my battleground, then I have no choice but to press on."

Wasting no time at all, Espio promptly walked past the ancient gate and began to ascend the stone steps. However, the fuchsia ninja's advance was soon intercepted.

Out of the blue, a horde of dark shadows unexpectedly emerged from the bushes and pointed their shinobigatana at the Chaotix ninja.

In a swift motion, Espio took a leap backward to create some distance and studied his newly arrived opponents. The first thing the chameleon noticed was that there were about five of them in sight. A while later, however, the number doubled, for five more emerged from behind, effectively surrounding Espio completely.

The ambushers looked like a bunch of anthropomorphic ravens dressed in dark robes, which made them look like assassins or ninjas from a certain Eastern country Espio was familiar with. Also, Espio knew at once that those creatures were also not mortals, for they possessed crimson horns protruding from the sides of their heads.

"Alright then, monsters," Espio said as he reached for his cuff, took out his kunai and got into his battle stance, ready for the ravens' attacks, "Come and get me, if you dare."

…

Espio didn't need to repeat himself, for as soon as the words left his mouth, the assassins immediately lunged toward him with their weapons raised and their intent clear. Using his lightning-fast reflexes and instincts, the trapped ninja easily anticipated his opponents' slashes and evaded with relative ease.

The experienced Chaotix warrior easily parried his attackers' strikes from both sides and countered by throwing his kunai at one of the charging ravens ahead. Said raven immediately responded to Espio's attack. It quickly slashed diagonally and deflected the incoming kunai, sending it spinning into the open air above.

Unfortunately for the monster, Espio had also anticipated such a predictable counter move. To be exact, Espio knew for sure that his opponent would execute such a defensive maneuver, based on the raven's posture alone.

Judging from the position and the angles the bird raised its sword, the perceptive chameleon ninja had already guessed that it would deflect the kunai by sending it skyward. Thus, as soon as the blade hit the kunai, Espio, having eluded the other assassins' clutch, was already in the air, right in position to retrieve his thrown weapon.

In one quick motion, Espio swooped down and performed a vertical slash that instantly cut his opponent in half. Like the birds before, the slain raven faded into the air shortly afterward after a blood-curling scream, leaving only its feathers behind.

"Who's next?" said Espio calmly as he turned around and looked at the remaining assassins, seemingly provoking them to make their next moves.

The other familiars, at once, charged at Espio at the same time and began to assault him with an endless series of slashes and thrusts aimed at the chameleon's vital points. Despite their apparent mastery and skills with their weapons, they didn't even manage to scratch the chameleon, whose level in ninjutsu was on a league of his own.

'Playtime is over' Espio mused as he grabbed the blade of one sword with both hands and snatched it away from his opponent, after delivering a skull-smashing kick to its head, of course. The next moment, Espio used the stolen sword to parry and slay the assassins surrounding him with ease.

'_Since these guys are not living beings, I have no need to hold back,'_ Espio mused as he stabbed an assassin behind him without even turning his head around to look.

In an instant, Espio turned invisible before the ravens' eye, confusing them, and took all of them out with consecutive expertly performed slashes using his trusty kunai. By the time the chameleon showed himself again, the birds had been reduced to a heap of feathers lying pathetically on the ground.

"They are quite skilled," said Espio as he looked back at the remains of his interceptors, "I must be careful. There are bound to be more of them up there."

With that, Espio put his kunai back into his cuffs and ran up the stair, continuing his journey toward the other end of the stone steps.

…

The way up was rather long and tiring. However, thanks to his training and stamina, Espio didn't run out of breath. If anything, the long run was nothing more than a simple walk in the park for the experienced ninja.

Along the way, Espio ran into more raven-like assassins on multiple occasions, but like before, they, though skilled, didn't amount to anything as the chameleon quickly beat them to oblivion with his superior speed and abilities.

The journey went on for about half an hour before the ninja detective finally arrived at a huge, traditional temple at the top of the staircase. For one with high respect for history and ancestry, Espio eyed the marvelous construction before him with intrigue and couldn't help but admire its timeless beauty, despite the gravity of the situation.

'_So this is to be my destined battlefield with the lord of this domain_,' Espio thought to himself as he darted his eyes around to examine the open garden around him, '_I can sense something here, something…unearthly.'_

A sudden sound coming from the sky assaulted Espio's ears and prompted him to direct his gaze toward the source. To his utter surprise, Espio spotted a giant staff heading straight for him. Thanks to his reflexes, Espio managed to roll out of the way in the nick of time, saving himself from getting crushed by the object.

Though Espio managed to avoid getting hit directly by the weapon, he was not safe just yet. The area the huge staff impacted was completely destroyed from the collision, the force of which generated a powerful gust of wind that almost blew the chameleon away.

Espio, quickly snapping out of his surprise when instincts took over, looked up at the roof of the temple, where he assumed the staff had come from. To his amazement, the chameleon spotted a figure dressed in a thick green robe standing forlornly and still, seemingly studying the chameleon in silence.

In a sudden gust of wind, the cloaked individual disappeared and reappeared a moment later, just a few yards away from the bewildered Chaotix ninja. Without warning, the silent enigma extended his hand and summoned his staff back to his side.

Espio studied the new opponent with utmost interest and instantly knew for sure that the being before him was not a normal one, even within the magical dimension. From what he could sense, the ninja could tell that all the opponents he had faced thus far were nowhere near the one he was facing at the moment.

Needless to say, Espio knew for a fact that he was in the presence of the ruler of the windy domain…that he was in the presence of a god of catastrophe. Cautiously, the chameleon reached for his kunai inside his cuff, all the while training his eyes on the cloaked being with undivided attention, and got ready for a possible showdown with him.

* * *

**That's it for the first part. Hopefully, the next part will be better. Do look forward to meeting the next deity, everyone. In the meantime, I have to go. See you soon. **


	21. Chapter 21 - Espio

**I've got absolutely and utterly no comment to say about this chapter. Definitely not my best work, but like I said last time, I ran out of ideas for Espio after finishing the other five.**

**That being said, I do think I did an adequate job on this chapter, so I hope everyone will like it. Enjoy.**

* * *

Sky Temple – Act 2

The mysterious green-clad deity, without warning, immediately held out his staff, performing complex and expert spins with it, and lunged at Espio. In one swift movement too quick for the naked eye to see, the enigma disappeared and rematerialized right in front of the baffled chameleon. Before Espio had a chance to react, the green clad immortal swung his staff with a mighty force.

That sudden and lethal move would have wholly defeated any mortal that dared to show his face before this silent being, but Espio was quite a different story.

Thanks to his years of rigorous training, the fuchsia ninja managed to read the movement of his opponent and jumped out of the menacing staff's path just in the nick of time before he got hit by it. Despite escaping a direct hit, Espio was not spared from getting blown away by a sudden twister that the immortal's swing generated.

Not expecting such an occurrence, Espio failed to protect himself from it and was sent flying toward a wall behind him, making the ninja grunt in pain. However, the surprised ninja was not in the clear just yet, not by a long shot.

When Espio finally managed to overcome his pain and forced his eyes open halfway, he saw, to his horror, the god grow two dark wings from his back. As silent and sudden as before, the immortal of wind immediately charged at him, with his destructive weapon in hand, seemingly ready to bust the chameleon's head open with the next strike.

Without wasting a single precious second, Espio instantly turned invisible and disappeared from the deity's sight, sparing himself an excruciating death. As soon as the chameleon ninja disappeared from his field of vision, the cloaked god halted halfway and remained still.

"…Pathetic…" muttered the silent immortal as he instantly whipped his head around and swung his weapon at the open air behind him, just a little above his head, where the chameleon had just disappeared to.

Seeing the incoming swing and knowing that his cover had been blown, Espio revealed himself and swiftly took out his kunai. Waiting for the perfect moment when the staff was close enough, the chameleon, using his instincts, performed a mid-air flip to dodge the staff and planted his weapon on his opponent's. Espio then grabbed on to his kunai's handle with all his might, avoiding being blown away by the resulting burst of wind like last time.

When the twister was gone, Espio, in one quick motion, leaped forward and ran along the length of the deity's weapon at an incredible speed in an attempt to reach him. Due to his opponent's cloaked features, Espio couldn't see whether he had been anticipating such a move from him or not, but the mortal ninja was willing to bet that the mysterious deity indeed had.

When the Chaotix ninja was within range, he sprinted and aimed at the enigma's neck with his kunai. The god, at that moment, held out his other hand, revealing a gauntlet, and attempted to guard against the chameleon's assault.

Much to the deity's surprise, a second before Espio's kunai hit his gauntlet, the chameleon went into camouflage mode, dropping his kunai in order to become wholly invisible.

A split second later, said chameleon reappeared right behind the enigmatic immortal. The green-clad deity whipped his head around too late and got slashed across the face by Espio's other kunai, an attack that he narrowly evaded by leaning back.

The ninja's strike effectively tore the hood covering the god's face in half and made the being kneel down, seemingly trying to avoid revealing himself to his opponent. Capitalizing that precious opportunity, Espio landed nimbly on the ground a little distance behind his enemy and threw a barrage of shuriken at him.

Unfortunately, the throwing stars never made it to their designated target, for they were reduced to bits by a sudden whirlwind coming from the unresponsive immortal a second before impact. In an instant, Espio leaped back even further and took out his trusty weapon, getting ready for the god's next assault. To the chameleon's utter surprise and relief, it never came.

"…Not bad…for a mortal warrior…" the deity spoke quietly as he slowly got to his feet. Once he was at full height again, he tore his cloak to shreds with his wind and turned around to face the Chaotix ninja.

At that moment, Espio was able to clearly see the features of the being before him. His height was about the same as a normal adult human. Like all the opponents the ninja had faced in this domain, the deity was raven-like in appearance and features. In fact, he bore uncanny resemblances to the fabled crow Tengu, the guardian spirit of the forests and mountains.

The deity wore a white shirt with long sleeves and a black hakama, giving him the image of an eastern swordsman in the days of old.

Espio was in awe, to put it mildly. He had heard many great stories and legends about this menacing yet incredible creature back in his own world, but never once did he think one really existed. However, the chameleon quickly snapped out of his initial admiration and stayed on high alert. One couldn't be too careful with a mighty god as his opponent.

"I take it you are the ruler of this realm?" asked Espio in a calm tone, one that effectively and completely masked his growing nerves.

"…Indeed I am…" the Tengu replied as he planted his staff on the ground, stirring up another powerful burst of wind, "I was given the name Zephyas by my lord…**Zephyas of the Malevolent Whirlwinds **I am called…Master of wind and stealth, ruler of the Sky Temple, and one of the seven Lords of Pandemonium."

"Well, my name is Espio, practitioner of ninjutsu, and a private investigator of the Chaotix Detective Agency. Tell me, Zephyas, why do you wish to destroy the world?"

"This world wronged all of us in the distant past. After that, we all came to realize that the world is rotten beyond repair…And the only way to fix it is to restart everything from the very beginning…That is our objective…"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Espio in evident surprise. There was a trigger of some sort that had sent these terrifying beings down the path of destruction and madness.

"It matters not what has transpired in the past…All I need to know now is to finish this time-consuming and utterly meaningless game so that our plan can be set in motion…"

"I will stop you without fail, Zephyas," Espio stressed with finality as he pointed his kunai at the immortal being before him.

"…You are welcome to try…only to fail miserably in the end, pitiful mortal…We shall have our showdown, but not here…I only face strong warriors in direct combat. Thus, if you do not complete your challenges inside my domain, you are worthless to me. I shall await your arrival at my own chamber, located on the top floor of the temple…Until then…"

In a powerful gust of wind that forced Espio to close his eyes, Zephyas disappeared without a trace, leaving Espio alone in the broad garden. The chameleon, after making sure that the Tengu immortal was really gone, turned his head and trained his eyes on the huge construction before him.

"The top of that temple, huh? Very well, if that is what you want, I will accept your challenge."

With that, Espio sped across the garden and went into the temple, ready physically and mentally for the challenges that awaited him inside.

…

The path to the top of the Sky Temple was not an easy one, even for a trained warrior such as Espio.

The temple might look ordinary and ancient on the outside, but on the inside, it housed the deadliest of traps and nastiest of secrets.

The interior was a huge maze rigged with lethal traps meant to kill, not harm; ones that were perfectly suitable for training elite ninjas and assassins back in the days, as well as for separating the strong and the gifted among the various and the ordinary. In addition, there were various floors that Espio had to overcome, each of which harbored different types of challenges that forced the ninja to use everything he had.

On the first floor, Espio had to tread in complete darkness and navigate his way through a treacherous labyrinth, using his well-honed senses to locate his exit and at the same time, fend off surprise attacks launched by the demonic assailants.

Thanks to his years of training, the chameleon was able to make great use of his acute hearing to locate ambushing enemies. Even in the complete shade of blackness, the skilled ninja was a force to be reckoned with his trusty kunai in hand, and a bunch of other weapons he snatched from his assassins. Any assailant that was able to get close to the chameleon was quickly given a one-way ticket to oblivion.

Using his other enhanced senses, Espio followed the subtle air current inside the temple and tried to locate the exit.

Even inside this maze, the wind was ever present, clearly from the influence of the ruler of the realm. However, the current was extremely faint, almost impossible to recognize, and only those with exceptional sensitivity might be able to feel it blowing against their skin, and Espio was luckily one of the minority.

Following the path guided by the wind, Espio soon managed to reach a spiral staircase leading to another level, clearing the first of many challenges within this unpredictable domain of an unpredictable opponent.

'_Come what may,'_ Espio thought to himself as he made his way up the stair, feeling more than ready for anything the immortal of wind might throw at him.

…

The next few floors that Espio had to go through were also filled with deadly traps meant to dispose of for the fuchsia ninja.

The various traps included, but not limited to swinging pendulums, acid pits, spike walls, indoor cannons, collapsing ceilings, camouflaged bear traps, hidden explosives, collapsing flatforms, needle ceilings, shuriken shooters that popped out from the walls, as well as countless and constant ambushes made by the crow assassins, and many more deadly traps, the next ones much deadlier than their predecessors.

Despite the obvious and overwhelming lack of both home field advantages and number, Espio bravely and confidently faced all of his obstacles with unwavering commitment and determination.

With cool rationalism, perfect judgments, well-timed reactions and well-honed reflexes, the Chaotix ninja managed to avoid and escape all of the environmental hazards as well as the ambush attempts.

"All these traps remind me of my old playground when I was ten" Espio said with a gleeful smirk on his face as he bashed the head of an assassin with a strong karate chop after dodging all of the incoming shuriken at the same time.

After that, the chameleon snatched the defeated assassin's kusarigama (lit. chained sickle) and threw it at a flatform, which was too high for him to reach. Once that was done, Espio pulled himself up and made his way to the next area.

The journey was long and tiring, but Espio, with his objective locked and determination high, soon managed to reach the final staircase that led to the top of the temple.

After a really deep breath to calm his nerves, the fuchsia ninja promptly and confidently stepped up to final the gate, feeling more than ready for his showdown with the deity of wind and lord of the realm, Zephyas.

* * *

**Well, I'll let you decide how well I did, as usual. Next time, we will have Espio's boss battle, and the time after next time, Blaze will take center stage. It's ironic how the first character I wrote about ended up going last, but no matter.**

**Anyway, stay tuned, and I will update as soon as I can. Peace!**


	22. Chapter 22 - Espio

**Espio's boss battle is here, everyone. I won't say much about it for I do not wish to ruin anything for anyone. Read and find out. Next time, we will have Blaze take center stage against the only female member of the seven. Do look forward to that.**

**For the time being, enjoy the final part of the Chaotix detective's stage. Leave a few lines if you have time. Thank you. **

* * *

Sky Temple – Act 3: Zephyas of the Malevolent Whirlwinds

After a long journey through the various floors of the Sky Temple, Espio at last managed to reach the top floor, the place where he would have his inevitable showdown with the Tengu-like ruler of his selected realm. The only thing that stood in the fuchsia chameleon's path at the moment was a giant gate that undoubtedly led to the deity's personal chamber, where his battle would take place.

Doing breathing exercises repeatedly, Espio tried his best to calm himself down and prepared his mind and body for the upcoming battle, which he knew he would not be able to get out unscathed. The last thing he needed was to get cold feet at this exact moment.

'_Alright, it's finally time to face my enemy'_ the chameleon thought as he tried to rid his mind of any lingering doubt, '_just remember your training.' _

Exhaling one last time, Espio opened his eyes and stood up straight. He then promptly pushed the giant gate open and headed into the room, feeling ready for his brawl with the Zephyas.

…

As soon as the gate flung open, Espio was surprised when a sudden burst of wind hit him at full force, which would have blown the chameleon back to where he had come from if he hadn't caught himself by planting his feet on the ground first.

At that instant, the giant gate was closed behind him, cutting off his only escape. However, Espio didn't really worry much about that trivial detail for the time being, for something else had already established itself as the ninja's first priority.

Taking a moment to survey the new area, Espio was surprised when he came to the realization that he was not in a chamber of any sort. Rather, he was standing on a bridge leading to a huge flatform that was suspended in mid-air, a feat accomplished by the wind immortal's magic. There were no walls surrounding the arena, nor were there barriers around the edges, so one single slip or mistake in this battle would be instant doom for the Chaotix ninja.

On the other side of the broad battle arena, Espio spotted his opponent standing still with his eyes closed and arms crossed, seemingly in a deep trance or meditation.

"Zephyas," Espio said as he cautiously walked to the center of the battle arena. The moment he arrived, the bridge on which he had been standing collapsed, trapping the ninja alone with his opponent. However, like before, Espio didn't even care. "I'm here like I said I would. It's time we finished this."

"Indeed, mortal," Zephyas spoke after a brief silence before he uncrossed his hands and opened his eyes to look at his challenger. "Truthfully, I am surprised that you managed to overcome all of my traps…but like I said…It matters not what has transpired in the past…"

Zephyas then held out his hand and summoned his staff out of nowhere. The Tengu then performed a few spinning moves, creating powerful twisters to showcase his power, and began to flap his wings, taking his body into the open air. The movements of his giant wings alone stirred up a powerful gust that blew directly at Espio, but the chameleon managed to withstand it and firmly stood his ground.

"Prepare yourself, Espio the chameleon" the immortal of wind said softly as he held his staff in both hands and pointed it at Espio.

The chameleon, not saying anything back, simple took out his pair of kunai and got into his battle stance, ready to take on and take down his enemy.

…

As soon as the battle began, Zephyas made his first move by stirring up two huge tornadoes with his wings. Seeing the approaching threats, Espio instantly reacted and rolled out of the way to avoid being blown off the battle arena. To his surprise and horror, Zephyas's tornadoes not only blew parts of the arena away, they also tore them to shreds in an instant.

"It's no wonder he has 'Malevolent' in his title," muttered Espio as he quickly darted his eyes back to look at the spot where the god had once stood, only to find it empty.

Quickly scanning his surroundings, Espio learned that Zephyas was nowhere to be found, and that could only mean one thing. Immediately, the detective's theory was proven correct when he suddenly saw a giant shadow shrouding his entire body.

In one swift motion, Espio performed a perfectly executed back flip out of harm's way and narrowly escaped the wrath of Zephyas' menacing staff. Learning from past experience, the Chaotix ninja quickly leaped back and got as far away from the immortal as possible, evading the deadly twisters resulted from the his strike.

Seizing the opportunity when the crow was roosting, Espio instantly reached for his cuffs and threw a barrage of shuriken at his opponent, fully expecting them to be stopped any time soon.

…

The chameleon was, once again, proven correct when Zephyas swiftly broadened his wings and shot his feathers at the incoming projectiles with deadly precision, effectively reducing all of the throwing stars to shreds.

Since Espio had been anticipating such a counter move from his enemy, he responded immediately and accordingly. At the exact moment Zephyas stretched his wings, the mortal ninja instantly used his camouflage ability and secretly charged at the Tengu.

Right after the shuriken had been intercepted, Espio suddenly reappeared right in front of the god with his kunai in hand, ready to slash his opponent. However, Zephyas didn't appear to be surprised at all at the chameleon's misdirection. Instead, the Tengu raised his gauntlet up in an attempt guard against Espio's subsequent attack.

Back to Espio, as soon as his kunai was about to make contact with Zephyas's raised gauntlet, he turned invisible again and disappeared from the deity's sight.

Almost instantly, Zephyas whipped his head around and swung his staff at the seemingly empty space behind him, conjuring a powerful gust of wind as a result.

The apparently meaningless attack managed to force Espio to reveal himself as he was blown away by the powerful air current and toward the edge of the area. Thankfully, he managed to stab his kunai on the ground to avoid being thrown off the edge and into his impending doom.

"Surely you didn't think the same trick would work twice on me, did you chameleon?" Zephyas asked mockingly as he trained his crimson eyes on Espio, his face expressionless and his body relaxed.

"No, I didn't," Espio replied casually as he stood up and got away from the unguarded edge, "That's why I used a different tactic."

As soon as Espio finished his sentence, a torrent of shuriken suddenly rained down on Zephyas from the sky.

Espio, having anticipated once again that his attack would be unsuccessful, had estimated the speed of the wind in the open air, thrown a few dozens of shuriken skyward and timed it perfectly so that he would be out of harm's way in the end, making the unsuspected Tengu take the full force of his trap.

Contrary to Espio's guess, however, Zephyas didn't appear to be fazed at all. Instead, he flashed the ninja an amused smirk before proceeding to spinning his staff above his head. The god then, at an incredible speed, leaped back and began to hit the falling shuriken with his weapon, sending all of them flying straight at their original owner. Not stopping there, Zephyas also used his wind power to greatly boost the speed of the projectiles, making them appear almost invisible to the naked eye.

Though initially baffled, Espio was still able to react to the sudden maneuver.

Thanks to his amazing reflexes, Espio managed to dodge most of the wind-boosted shuriken, albeit with slight difficulty. Some of them managed to scratch his arm and shoulder, but the wounds were shallow and not worthy of his attention for the time being. Even though he had avoided being impaled to death by his own weapons, the fuchsia ninja was not safe from the wind immortal's assault, not by a long shot.

The moment Espio got to his feet, he came face-to-face with Zephyas, who had used the ninja's moment of distraction to zoom in on him. In a split second, the immortal's staff was swung at full force at Espio, who luckily managed to leap into the air above Zephyas's head and saved himself from a painful hit.

In a blink of the eye, Espio charged at the deity's exposed back right after his landing in an attempt to dish out some damage of his own. To his dismay, Zephyas swiftly turned around and sent three tornadoes at him, forcing the chameleon to rethink his strategy. Quickly side stepping from left to right, Espio was able to avoid the magical attack and close the distance between him and his enemy.

Once he was close enough, the chameleon engaged the Tengu in close combat, using his various styles of martial arts in hope of inflicting some damage on his opponent.

Zephyas, on the other hand, stuck his staff on the ground and proved to be a tricky opponent by consecutively and soundly blocking the chameleon's attacks with his bare hands without breaking a sweat.

The showdown between two master martial artists went on for quite a while, with neither side showing any weakness or opening. Every punch, kick, jab and chop that Espio performed was countered by Zephyas, and vice versa. However, the immortal of wind seemed to have the upper hand, mostly due to his larger frame and longer limbs.

…

After a very long time, Espio saw a chance to possibly land a hit on Zephyas when the god threw a punch.

'_This is going to hurt!'_ Espio thought bitterly as he stood still and took the hit head-on while trying his hardest to stand his ground.

Once again, the chameleon's rigorous training proved to be helpful as he was able to resist being knocked back by the wind manipulator's mighty attack. Immediately, Espio, ignoring the pain, grabbed the Tengu's hand tightly and slammed him to the ground with a loud thud.

Before Zephyas could recover from that attack, Espio leaped into the air and sunk his knees into the deity's abdomen, causing the god to visibly flinch when the strike hit.

Quickly maneuvering himself on top of the fallen god, Espio unleashed a barrage of punches and jabs to his opponent's head. The ninja's assault lasted for a short while before he sensed danger in the air (literally) and quickly backed away from his target. Once again, Espio's instincts narrowly saved him from being sliced into pieces by Zephyas's feather shots.

…

Zephyas stood up from where he was and dusted himself off. Then, he directed his gaze to look at the cautious chameleon in front of him, his face still expressionless and unreadable. In fact, Espio could have sworn the deity's face could shame even Shadow's legendary poker face. The ninja's relentless assault was extremely powerful, but the Tengu didn't look like he was in pain at all. Truth to be told, he didn't look like he could feel anything at all.

After an unnerving silence and a staring contest between the two, Zephyas spoke.

"That's the second time you've managed to hit me, Espio…Not too shabby, if I do say so myself" he said calmly and summoned his staff to his side via his wind power.

"You really are a powerful opponent, Zephyas," said Espio as he eyed his enemy warily for any sudden movements, "If you wanted, you could be of great help to the world, so why do you wish to destroy it?"

"I believe we've had this little conversation before, so I will not bother wasting my breath and repeat what I've already said."

"I thought you said it mattered not what had transpired, so why are you doing this?"

"…A mortal like you wouldn't begin to understand how it feels like to fall into the darkest, deepest pit of despair of having your loved ones forcibly taken away from you by the monsters this world creates…"

'_So there is a reason why they are hell-bent on spreading chaos and destruction across the world.' _Espio thought to himself, "I can sense from the very first time we met that you are a noble soul, Zephyas. I don't know what kind of misfortune you had to endure to make you turn out the way you are right now."

"…"

"However, I do know one thing that I must do, and that is to stop you before you destroy everything," said Espio decisively as he reached for his shuriken and threw them at Zephyas, who effortlessly dodged by taking to the air.

"…You remind me of a time when I fully believed in justice, Espio…But like I said, you'll not be able to understand the pain that I went through…that all of us went through."

With that said, Zephyas made his staff disappear and pulled out a giant fan that seemed to be made from his own feathers.

"No more warning shots, mortal. It's time we started the real battle…" said Zephyas calmly as he casually swung his fan, generating an extremely powerful whirlwind that lifted Espio off his feet completely and blew him away.

Fortunately, the chameleon managed to avoid being sent out of the arena by quickly stabbing his kunai on the solid ground once again. However, Espio still got injured by the sudden attack. Like he had commented earlier, Zephyas didn't have "Malevolent" in his title just for show. Espio's flesh was cut by the razor-sharp whirlwind, causing him some pain that the ninja tried his best to suppress.

Ignoring the throbbing injuries, Espio and got himself up and ready for another vicious attack from the hovering wind deity above.

Not wasting a second, Zephyas waved his feather fan once again and summoned a huge tornado around him that practically laid waste to a large fraction of the battle arena, sending large chunks of rocks flying everywhere.

"Try to make me land, Espio. If you manage that feat, you'll live…" Zephyas taunted with a smirk on his face.

…

One look at the elemental attack made Espio realize the grim truth that he would be finished if he got hit by the tornados, either by getting sliced to bits or by getting thrown off the edge. However, the observant chameleon also realized that there was a way, an extremely dangerous and absolutely lethal way for him to reach the flying immortal, who was out of his reach.

'_This is going to be a rough ride' _Espio thought wryly, dreading what was about to come and the fact that he was going to do it anyway.

The powerful tornado created powerful winds that made things really difficult for Espio. In such extreme conditions, his speed was cut in half, and he had to try his best not to get thrown off the arena. In addition, the magically conjured phenomenon also shot out countless razor winds that could easily slice through hard rocks and boulders as if they were butter.

Quickly dodging the lethal razor winds, Espio steadily and persistently made his way for one of the floating rocks that were being thrown carried by the violent whirlwind. When he was close, the ninja made a leap of faith and luckily landed on it, albeit barely.

The next few minutes of Espio's life were spent entirely on trying desperately not to fall off the large boulder shielding him from the deadly twister and formulating his next steps.

'_Thank heavens this rock is large,_' Espio thought to himself, _'It would take quite a while until Zephyas' winds could turn it to shreds completely. That will give me some time, hopefully enough to make my next moves.' _

Zephyas, hovering inside the eye of the storm, seemed to have recognized Espio's intention, so he continued to make his tornado even more powerful than before, making things increasingly difficult for Espio to approach. However, that didn't discourage the chameleon from trying.

'_Alright, Espio, calming breaths,'_ the chameleon thought to himself in an attempt to calm down and gather his thoughts. '_At this rate, I don't have much time before this rock is reduced to shreds…and me as well. It's do or die then.'_

Using everything he had learned from all his years of training, Espio jumped out of the way before the rock he was standing on was destroyed by the violent winds. He subsequently landed on another boulder nearby and quickly took cover from the slicing razor winds while letting the main whirlwind take him to his target.

…

Espio repeated the process over and over again under extreme conditions.

He would wait until another boulder was really close to his position and then leap onto it, allowing the new flatform to get him closer to Zephyas, while staying out of harm's way at the same time. Since Espio only had a few seconds to hop from one rock to another before the old flatforms collapsed, to say that he was nervous would be the biggest understatement of the year.

'_One slip and I'm a goner,_' Espio thought grimly as he positioned himself behind the large boulder, taking shelter from the slicing winds.

After about half an hour of trying his best not to make any life-threatening mistake, Espio finally managed to spot the sight his target above him.

"So, I see you've made it" Zephyas spoke with his usual monotone voice, which Espio still couldn't interpret.

"Time to end this, Zephyas!" exclaimed the chameleon as he made a few more jumps to finally reach the wind master. Zephyas continued to send more tornadoes at Espio by waving his fan repeatedly, but the ninja quickly evaded, albeit with great difficulty due to his moving space and the fact that the number of flatforms had greatly diminished. However, with pure determination, Espio managed the feat.

Soon, the chameleon was close to the god. Since both of them were inside the eye of the typhoon, Espio was safe from the razor-sharp winds that created the tornado, but he was not safe from the conjurer.

The moment the fuchsia ninja was within range, he immediately launched a powerful axe kick at Zephyas, who easily blocked it with his free hand.

The god then attempted to stab Espio with his feather fan, but the ninja quickly wrapped his long tail around his outstretched arm and swung out of harm's way. Moving behind the surprised Tengu, Espio instantly delivered a powerful kick to his back, making him flinch momentarily.

Seizing his precious chance, Espio once again wrapped his tail around one of Zephyas's arms and clung onto it. After that, the chameleon swung himself upward so that he was above the Tengu.

Before Zephyas could recover from the last attack, Espio unleashed another powerful axe kick right on top of his head, effectively weakening the god's magical tornado and sending him pummeling straight for the ground below.

Despite the success of his assaults, Espio, knew full well that Zephyas couldn't be knocked out b something like that alone, so he followed up with another equally deadly move.

Diving directly at the falling deity, Espio caught up and wrapped his tail, arms and legs around the god's body, making sure that Zephyas couldn't escape.

"Got you now, Zephyas," he said with a proud smirk as he tightened his hold on his opponent even more. Due to Espio's tight grappling move, Zephyas couldn't stretch his wings to fly, and thus, he couldn't break his fall.

Zephyas, with Espio restraining him, was pile-driven into head first into the ground with a loud bang, and the force of the thunderous impact effectively destroyed what was left of the suspended battle arena, but there was still enough space for Espio to stand on when he emerged from the smoke, seemingly unharmed from his latest attack.

'_I've never been so glad I'm shorter than a normal human until now,' _Espio thought to himself with a soft chuckle, but it soon disappeared a moment later, replaced by a frown as he watched out for Zephyas' possible responses.

…

Espio quickly recovered from the fall, slightly surprised that he was still in one piece after that, and jumped away from the apparently despondent deity, just in case the god unexpectedly unleashed his razor winds at point-blank range.

"Did that do it?" Espio wondered quietly as he fell to one knee, feeing throbbing pain coming from every part of his body, courtesy of the god's razor winds. Zephyas's powerful elemental attacks had clearly done a number on him.

As soon as that question left Espio's mouth, a powerful gust emerged from where Zephyas was lying answered him, much to his dismay. With a long and audible sigh, Espio forced his battered body to stand up and got ready for another wave of attacks from the emotionless wind manipulator.

After the sudden gust, Zephyas got to his feet at full height and stared at Espio with his usual empty gaze and eternal poker face, one that the chameleon still couldn't read no matter how hard he tried. After a moment of standing still with neither the chameleon nor the Tengu made any attempt on each other's life, Zephyas put his feather fan away and spoke in his perpetual calm tone.

"That's enough…for the time being."

"What?" asked Espio, clearly surprised at what the deity had just said.

"I've seen enough…and I declare that this battle is over…It's your win, Espio."

"Why? From what I see, you can still fight, so why are you surrendering?"

"I wouldn't say 'surrender'. Rather, I'd say I've honored my word…You managed to defeat me fair and square by knocking me down to the ground…I'll keep my promise and let you go for now. Also, the battle arena is no more. Thus, there is no longer a place for you to stand on to face me."

Needless to say, Espio was perplexed by Zephyas's reasoning. The god was hell-bent on the destruction of the world, now he would forfeit a fight just because Espio had no space to stand on as part of his reasons for backing down. This being was truly a curious one.

"Why do you care?" asked Espio in confusion. "If the battle arena collapses, you'll win by default. And I clearly remember you said you would want to end this game soon so that you could get back to your objective."

"While it is true that I want to end this silly game, but I do not wish to defeat my opponent in such a cowardly fashion. This is still a fight, and I have my code of conduct, and my honor to uphold. Thus, when I want to finish something, I would do it with my own powers, and I'll never accept a cheap victory resulted from accidents…Such a thing puts a stain on honor and insults my pride as a warrior."

Espio was in awe with this conflicting deity before him. He was about to say something, but the Tengu beat him to it by opening a portal behind him.

"Go through that portal and you shall find your way back. Next time we meet, I'll make sure to finish you off with my own two hands, Espio the chameleon…"

With that said, Zephyas disappeared after summoning a powerful twister, leaving the chameleon alone in the ruined arena to wander in his own thoughts.

"These creatures…surely there were tragedies that molded them this way…" Espio muttered to himself as he turned around to examine the newly-opened portal.

"In any case, I still need to stop them from their quest for destruction and madness."

With that, Espio promptly stepped through the portal and made his way back to the Forbidden Island.

…

In an unknown location on the Forbidden Island, Zephyas materialized and came face-to-face with a cloaked Arzazel, who seemed to have been expecting the Tengu's arrival for quite some time. Zephyas massaged his head briefly, where Espio had axe kicked him, before kneeling before his leader and lord.

"The wind told me you wished to speak to me…What is it that troubles you, my lord?" Zephyas said calmly.

"You really haven't changed one bit, Zephyas," began the cloaked deity, "You are still a noble and honorable warrior that you have always been. However, in this situation, you really should have finished that chameleon off for good."

Zephyas simply remained still and lifted his head up to look at his leader.

"There is a reason I summoned those 'heroes' to this island. I can sense something…dangerous about them. If we leave them be, they may very well disrupt our grand design. Surely you, of all seven of us, wouldn't want that."

"While it is true that I wish for nothing more than to begin cleansing this rotten world of the filth contaminating it, I simply cannot abandon my honor in the process. It has been quite a while since someone managed to knock me off the sky…And I want to challenge that individual to a decisive battle first…A battle of honor between true warriors…"

Arzazel said nothing in return. Instead, he stood still and stared straight into the eyes of his comrade, trying to read the emotions behind those crimson orbs. Much like Espio, however, even he could not interpret the serene gaze that Zephyas was shooting at him.

After a shake of his head, Arzazel waved his hand, giving the Tengu permission to stand up and leave.

At that signal, Zephyas got to his feet once more, turned around and began to walk toward the door. Before he closed it, the wind immortal glanced back at the silent Arzazel and spoke softly to him.

"Next time, I will destroy that chameleon in battle without holding back, even if it means forsaking my pride and honor in the process…if that's what you expect me to do, Arzazel…"

"…Please do," said the cloaked enigma after a moment of silence as he turned around.

Before the leader of the gods teleported out of the dimly-lit chamber, he whispered "Provided that there were a next time" to himself, making sure that even his sensitive ally couldn't pick it up.

Once the grey-clad immortal was out of sight, Zephyas also disappeared, returning silence back to the room where the two gods had conversed.

* * *

**Alright, that is all for now. Next chapter, the princess of the Sol Dimension will take the spotlight against the sixth member of the deities, Lamia. Until then, I am sonicfan1990, thank you for reading and following my story. Good day.**


	23. Chapter 23 - Blaze

**Well, this chapter certainly didn't take much time to edit, yay me. This is the last of the six available stages, with Blaze as the center of attention. With the fiery princess of the Sol Dimension as the main character, you can be sure there will be a lot of hot actions involved.**

**Please enjoy, and if possible, give me some constructive advice as well. **

**Last but not least, readers discretion is advised (just in case). Blaze's stage is a tad different from the others when I first wrote it (it's probably just my own opinion, but you can't be too careful). **

* * *

Toxic Jungle – Act 1

Immediately after stepping through her chosen portal, Blaze was blinded by a sudden burst of light that temporarily took away her sight for a few seconds. When the brightness returned to normal, the pyrokinetic cat slowly opened her amber orbs and shook her head vigorously in an attempt to clear her currently blurry vision.

Once she could see clearly again, Blaze began to look around and carefully surveyed her new surroundings.

The new landscape she was currently in resembled a dead and eerie forest, mainly composed of hideously gnarled, disfigured, burned, thorny and brittle trees. Blaze felt a sudden chill running up and down her spine as she laid eyes upon the seemingly dead trees, for their barks greatly resembled humans engaging in different activities, most of which involved suicide.

'_What a horrendous sight!'_ Blaze thought as she looked at a certain tree that appeared to be a limbless man with a disfigured face and body, seemingly having been melted by some sort of strong acid.

Suddenly, a strange color of purple entered the cat's field of vision when she was walking around, prompting her to check it out. Upon closer inspection, Blaze learned that she had entered a field filled with unusual and beautiful violet flowers, the likes of which she had never seen before, even inside the royal garden.

The cat then cautiously approached and attempted to pick a flower blooming on a tree nearby, but as her fingers were about to touch it, the strange vegetation suddenly grew in size and released a thick violet smoke that soon enveloped a great area around it.

Using her extremely agile reflexes, Blaze swiftly and immediately jumped back when the strange flower grew in size and got as far away from the mysterious smoke as she could, for she suspected that it could potentially be deadly. Her sharp judgment and reflexes ended up saving her life.

Blaze, now at a safe distance, watched in horror as the mysterious smoke quickly corroded all the rocks, and trees that it enveloped. The other flowers, however, remained. If anything, they became even larger and more beautiful than before. At that very moment, Blaze came to the conclusion that she was not walking inside any ordinary forest; rather, the cat was stuck inside a nightmarish forest filled with deadly poisonous species that could easily melt all things.

"That was some powerful toxic mist," Blaze muttered as she quickly summoned her flames to burn the lethal flower, undoing the corrosive mist as a result.

"I suppose the entire place is composed of everything toxic and lethal then…"

"That is correct, your highness" came a female voice suddenly from behind Blaze, which instantly prompted the lavender feline to whip her head around and summon her protective flames on reflex. It was then that she saw and recognized the familiar yet unwelcoming sight of the entity dressed in violet.

"You are…Lamia, correct?" Blaze asked cautiously as she got ready for a possible battle with the newly emerged deity.

"Indeed I am, your highness. It's such a great honor that you remember even my humble name," said the deity with false sweetness in her voice as she bowed her head before the lavender cat, mocking her with pretentious formality. "That being said, I feel as though we need to go through the formal and proper procedure of introduction one more time."

Immediately after that, the cloaked enigma stretched out one hand and touched her robe. The single touch of the wicked immortal instantly melted her violet cover, effectively revealing her features wholly to her opponent.

…

In front of Blaze now was a female adult with bewitchingly mesmerizing beauty, the likes of which that could easily force the sanest and most gentlemanly of men to instantly surrender themselves to their carnal desires and primitive urges.

The deity had perfect peach skin, a gorgeous visage, silky flowing hair, which reached down to her waist, and blood-red lips, all of which only helped to emphasize the deity's mystifying and charming appearance. Her dark hair was also tied on top of her head in two large buns and held in place by a large elaborately-carved gold needle.

The voluptuous humanoid immortal wore a slightly loose kimono of dark violet shade, the same as her cloak. The garment opened at the top, seductively revealing the flesh of her shoulders and part of her cleavage. In addition, her attire was tied in place by a black belt embedded with various skulls, possibly humans'. The kimono also reached down to her ankles, covering her entire upper and lower body. The bewitchingly charming female also wore gold, pointy gauntlets that completely armored her hands, palms and fingers.

The only thing about the new deity's appearance that set her apart from that of a normal human female were two blood-red horns protruding from the sides of her head and curving at the end, giving her the appearance of a typical demoness. Additionally, Lamia also had small ruby in the middle of her forehead as well as a skull necklace that matched the design of her belt for accessories.

…

Lamia then flipped her hair with one hand and examined her golden claws with interest before smiling sweetly at her opponent.

"Now that is much better," said the immortal in a pouting tone, which was completely different than the one she had used when she was in the presence of her group, "I can't believe Arzazel wouldn't allow me to let loose every once in a while."

"Well anyway, allow me to introduce myself to you once more, princess," Lamia spoke as she turned her head around to look at Blaze dead in the eye, "I am known as **Lamia of the Corrosive Venom**, mistress of poison and bewitchment, and I will be your guide during your visit to my lovely domain. Let me be the first to welcome you to the exotic Toxic Jungle. I hope you will enjoy your eternal stay here as a lifeless corpse embedded on one of my trees."

"You are much different from the last time we conversed, witch," said Blaze indifferently, unaffected by Lamia's threat. '_So the trees in this place used to be humans after all.'_

"Well, when Arzazel is around, I have to put on the 'good girl' act to please him. When he's not, I'm off the clock." The female deity then trained her amethyst eyes on Blaze intently before letting out a long and audible sigh, "I had hoped that one of the male members of your team would choose this portal, preferably the blue hedgehog, the purple chameleon or the dark hedgehog. It would have been so much more interesting and entertaining to kill them after they've succumbed to my charms, but I guess you'll have to do, princess."

"So now that I'm here, what do you want to do with me?"

"Nothing too difficult, kitty cat. All you have to do is go through the areas within my Toxic Jungle and reach the castle on top of that mountain," Lamia then gestured to the high mountain behind Blaze, "By the time you reach my residence, you will have earned the right to face me in battle. But I have to warn you that this little excursion of yours is not going to be a walk in the park. A simple minded fool such as yourself can't possibly survive the hidden secrets of my wonderful garden."

"Is that all?" Blaze asked, completely ignoring the deity's meaningless and hollow taunts.

"Yes, that is the rule of the game. Your little club house buddies are also subject to the same rule in my colleagues' respective realms. It's simple to remember and straight to the point, so you don't have to worry about forgetting it. I have to warn you, though, many have attempted to finish this game, yet none have ever succeeded, and their corpses are still out there, tortured and trapped for the rest of eternity as the trees that decorated my beautiful home. Soon, you will join them as well, Blaze. I have one tree in my personal chamber that I've reserved especially for you."

With that, Lamia raised her hand and called forth an intense poison mist, much like the one that had come out of the strange flower previously, forcing Blaze to leap back to avoid getting hit in the process. The mist then enveloped the deity's body, and when it disappeared, so did the immortal.

Once her opponent was gone, Blaze turned around and stared at the mountain which Lamia had gestured toward.

"I will not let you do as you please, fiend" she muttered to herself.

Wasting no time, the lavender feline instantly mad a mad dash in the direction of that mountain, determined to defeat the toxic entity and stop her schemes.

…

The Toxic Jungle was an extremely treacherous area, filled with environmental hazards that could easily kill. Furthermore, the grotesqueness of the domain could seriously affect the mentality of whoever trapped inside it. In this place, death was ever present. Everywhere Blaze went, she was greeted by the disturbing and hideous sights of shattered skulls, melted bones as well as the brittle human-made trees.

'_Only a deranged mind could find this hellish place beautiful_. _That Lamia is seriously messed up in the head,_' Blaze thought as she tried to block the horrendous sights out of her mind and focused entirely on her task.

During her run, the royal princess used her flames to gain more speed as she boosted forward, dodging the dead trees obstructing her path and jumping over bottomless pits beneath her feet. Also, the flames she generated also helped protect her from the natural hazards of the jungle, mainly the poison gas released from the flora in this place.

Thanks to her abilities, Blaze was able to form a protective barrier of fire to shield herself whenever she boosted, effectively protecting her from the lethal mist, and continued forward with no apparent difficulty or complication.

…

After running for quite a while, Blaze finally halted when she arrived at a clear open field, which was surrounded by the eerie trees and mountains of bones. There was a new path on the other side of the field, but just as Blaze was about to make her move, the seemingly dead trees began to shake violently, despite the fact that there was no wind. As time passed, Blaze's sensitive ears could pick up on groaning noises coming from them.

"What is going on? An ambush?" the cat wondered as she darted her eyes around.

All of the sudden, the human-like barks of the trees opened their eyes and glared at Blaze, scaring her a little. The monstrosities then let out thunderous roars at the same time at the trapped princess, forcing her to cover her sensitive ears for a brief while to block out the deafening noise.

After that, the branches instantly turned into claws and the roots became legs. The seemingly brittle and dead trees inside the demonic forest came to life at the same time and slowly headed toward Blaze, yearning for her flesh and blood.

One of the monsters behind Blaze quickly stretched its claws and scratched Blaze, but she managed to evade the attack in the nick of time before the claws reached her. The lavender cat, not wasting a second, immediately spun her body around and burned the advancing monstrosity to a crisp in an instant. The human figure on the tree's bark let out an agonizing roar as the flames burned it and soon, the monster was reduced to ashes.

Blaze looked around and found that she was surrounded from all sides by at least twenty monsters. However, she was unfazed by the sights of them.

"Come and get me if you dare," she shouted, taunting her enemies into making mistakes. At the sound of her voice, the monsters instantly lunged at her, arms stretched and claws ready.

The princess, in retaliation, summoned her trusted flames and prepared for the monsters' attacks.

…

Without warning, the tree monsters opened their mouths and revealed the poisonous flower. Needless to say, the flower let out the dark violet mist of toxic property. Knowing how deadly that mist was, Blaze instantly responded by summoning a large pillar of flames around her body. The flame pillar instantly incinerated the poison mist and burned the nearby trees in the process.

Once the air was free of that mist, the pyrokinetic feline stretch her hands, making the flames of the pillar spread in all directions in the form of a wave of intense heat. A large number of enemies were hit by the heat wave and were reduced to ashes shortly afterward. The remaining ones, however, persistently continued to charge at Blaze in an attempt to clobber her with their giant claws.

Blaze, using the monsters' size to her advantage, jumped on top of an outstretched claw of one monster and leaped onto its head. The other mindless monsters immediately lunged at the one the Blaze was standing on.

"This madness ends now, creatures" said Blaze as she took to the air with her power.

The car then unleashed a powerful barrage of fireballs at the gathering trees, setting all of them ablaze at the same time.

The fire spread fast due to the monsters being so close to each other and soon burned the animated trees to dust, thus ending the battle with Blaze as the ultimate victor.

Once her fight was over, Blaze landed gracefully on the ground and dusted her hands with a satisfied smile on her face. Right after the trees had been taken care of, the path once again revealed itself to Blaze. Cautiously, she studied her surroundings one more time before moving on, just to make sure there were no more monsters in hiding.

"Pesky monsters, what a complete waste of my valuable time. I don't have time for such distractions, have to defeat Lamia soon and save my people and my world. That being said, this place really is dangerous. One tiny mistake and I'm a goner for sure. I'd better be on my guard."

Blaze then headed for the open path and continued her journey toward Lamia's castle, not knowing yet feeling prepared for whatever challenges that awaited her in the next area within this eerie domain.


	24. Chapter 24 - Blaze

Toxic Jungle – Act 2: Carnage

After escaping from the monsters and getting out of the open field, Blaze resumed her pace and once again made for the direction of Lamia's castle at a breakneck speed, one that could possibly give Sonic a run for his money.

The next area the cat arrived at was wholly different from the previous place. The only thing that told Blaze that she was still inside the jungle was the frequent presence of the human-made trees and venom-producing flora, all of which Blaze easily avoided thanks to her pyrokinesis and lightning-quick reflexes. The princess simply had to set the flowers ablaze with her flames and continue her run. However, the tactic which would have been effective previously was no longer applicable here.

The most notable difference between the new area and the old one was that the former didn't have any ground to run on. Instead, the entire place was an extremely vast swamp, which Blaze instantly concluded to be composed purely of deadly venom and toxic waste after throwing a broken branch into it.

In addition, the swamp smelled utterly and indescribably horrible, much to the sensitive cat's dismay. She almost passed out the first time she entered the area due to the foul stench, but she managed to succeed in staying awake.

"Urgh, I wonder if it would be any better if I passed out. This place smells like a dumpster, only a hundred times worse. How can anyone live here?"

"Well, it seems that I can't walk through here," the cat said as she inspected the area. After a while, a smile graced her face as she looked up, "That doesn't mean I can't skip through here."

With that, Blaze immediately leaped into the air and landed on a branch of a nearby tree.

To get through this area, the lavender feline had to make good use of her acrobatic skills to hop from tree to tree, from branch to branch, and one single slip would instantly lead the ct to falling to her impending doom. In addition, Blaze also made use of her ever reliable flames to protect herself from lethal ambushes of various flowers blooming on the dead barks, all the while exercising extreme caution not to destroy her own footings.

With her game plan set and objective locked, Blaze tirelessly pressed on and made her way toward the aforementioned castle at a relatively steady pace. She swiftly yet gracefully jumped from one tree to another and grinded along the vines to gain more speed in the process.

The entire trip was like a walk in the park for the agile princess. However, little did she know there were ominous shadows lurking in the background, along with two glowing green orbs that had been glaring at her ever since she set foot into this foul swamp.

…

After a long while of nonstop hopping, Blaze came to an abrupt stop all of the sudden when her ears picked up strange noises coming above her head. The cat then directed her gaze upward, only to almost have her head cut off cleanly by a huge scythe if she hadn't been quick and flexible enough to lean back in the nick of time.

"That was…cutting it too short," Blaze mumbles as she immediately leaped backward to evade a subsequent slash from the same assailant.

After releasing her breath in relief, she shot a glare at the ambusher. What she saw was less than welcoming at the moment. Hovering above her were the same reaper-like apparitions that had attacked the Ocean Tornado before the group was forcibly teleported to the island.

"Not these guys again. I seriously don't have time to fool around right now. Get out of my sight!" said Blaze angrily as she conjured flames from her palms. "Come on, let's get this over and done with."

…

At Blaze's provocation, the horde of phantoms descended and lunged straight at the lone princess in an attempt to tear her to shreds by continuously slashing her with their menacing weapons.

Blaze, however, was completely unfazed by the relentless series of slashes that the specters were throwing at her. Using her incredible speed and flexibility, the princess expertly and at the same time gracefully evaded all attempts at her life by the hollows. She then counterattacked with a series of fire-boosted jabs and kicks directly to the enemies' skull masks, their only weakness, and shattered them instantly, effectively forcing the phantoms to fade into nothingness shortly afterward.

"You are wasting my valuable time, creatures…" said Blaze after she had burned the last of hostile enemies to a crisp. "That was unexpectedly easy. But I have a strange feeling that something big and bad is about to take place…"

After that brief battle, Blaze resumed her journey, leaping off the branch on which she was standing and grinding on another vine to make her way through the acidic swamp.

After a long while of travelling, as well as a lot of undesirable encounters with the murderous phantoms as well as the poisonous flowers, Blaze finally saw one thing that could be considered 'a sight for sore eyes' within this nightmarish landscape: land.

The princess swiftly jumped off the vine she was grinding on and landed gracefully on her feet.

"At last I can walk normally again," Blaze said with a chuckle as her feet touch the ground, "Much better than having to hop from one place to another."

After a brief rest, the cat directed her gaze toward the mountain ahead.

"Alright," said Blaze as she could now clearly see Lamia's castle. The sight of her destination put tiny smile on her face, "I'm almost there."

Without wasting another precious second, the fiery princess accelerated and made a beeline toward the immortal's dwelling at top speed.

…

The trip after the venomous swamp was somewhat simple and smooth for the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, with the only real threats being the hidden flowers and the phantoms. Having already dealt with such enemies beforehand, Blaze easily defended herself from all that dared to block her advance.

Thanks to her flames, Blaze practically set the trails on fire as she ran past. Without the fear of destroying her footing lingering in her head, the cat casually and somewhat gleefully laid waste to everything she encountered, setting the phantoms and the flora ablaze.

Soon, the princess found herself, once again, at another spacious area, which also bore the same ominous feeling of dread as the previous one.

Unlike the first one, however, this place had no trees and grass. It was simply a large and spacious area surrounded by countless mountains of skulls and bones belonging to various creatures, humans' and anthropomorphic beings' alike. It was a kind of place that could easily send chills up and down the spine of the bravest and condemn to sanest of warriors down the path of madness at first glance.

Though somewhat disturbed by what she was witnessing, Blaze tried her very best to get affected by the horrendous sight.

"Mind game is useless against me, Lamia. But I can feel that something is dwelling here…I can feel an extremely evil aura" Blaze muttered to herself as she darted her eyes around to search for the source of her discomfort. "Though greatly similar, this aura is not Lamia's. What is it exactly?"

Blaze then proceeded to walking very slowly and cautiously toward the center of the seemingly deserted field, fully expecting to be intercepted by ambushers or traps. As soon as she reached the center, the ground beneath her feet began to shake violently; surprising Blaze and making her lose balance momentarily.

All of the sudden, a dozen of enormous vines emerged from the ground and trapped Blaze in the middle. The lavender feline didn't even have the time to react to the strange situation before the earth under her feet began to crack.

Quickly, Blaze sprinted forward and made her way toward the only exit, only to be stopped in her track by the emerging vines.

"Drat," said the princess softly as she quickly leaped back, creating a distance between herself and the strange creature, "There really is something here."

A moment later, the ground where Blaze had once stood crumbled and a gigantic flower emerged from the newly formed abyss, shocking Blaze. It was incredibly huge, dwarfing the cat with its equally enormous petals and vines.

On top of the great flower was none other than the deity Lamia. The immortal smirked and looked down at the trapped princess with amusement in her eyes.

"Congratulations, kitty! You are among the few who have ever managed to make it this far," said Lamia as she sat down and petted the flower affectionately, "I suppose you were born a good entertainer after all. You arrived just in time for the next act."

"I'm not here to entertain your twisted and deranged mind, witch. I'm here to put a stop to your madness once and for all."

"That's what they all said," Lamia gestured toward the numerous lifeless bones and skulls scattered on the ground, "Soon, you'll join them as well, your highness. My beloved pet, Carnage, hasn't had a single bite for millennia, so she is dying for fresh meat."

The petals opened up and revealed a hideous head of a reptilian monstrosity inside. Its slit eyes were green and glowing brightly in the darkness of the jungle. The creature then let out a sky-splitting roar that shook the entire area and glared at Blaze with murder intent.

"Much as I love to stay here and watch my pet gruesomely devour you, Blaze, I have no desire to ruin my hair and my outfit," she then lowered and planted a kiss on the monster's head, whispering softly, "Bon appetite, darling."

After that, Lamia immediately enveloped her body in a violet mist, disappearing a while later, and left Blaze alone to face the hunger of an eldritch monster possibly as old as the planet itself. The princess, after a short while, managed to overcome her initial shock and prepared for a death match with the vicious creature before her.

"Come, by the time I'm through with you, you will be dying for real, monster," Blaze stated and summoned her flames.

…

Carnage suddenly roared loudly with a thunderous voice that threatened to split the ground in half. This time, Blaze was able to stand her ground. After that, the gigantic flower swung all of its vines at Blaze in an attempt to smash the cat into the ground.

Blaze, however, saw that attack coming and quickly evaded the incoming vines. Despite her foresight, the princess still had a lot of difficulty avoiding every attack thrown at her. The acrobatic cat swiftly landed on one vine and then jumped on top of another in order to get close to the creature's reptilian head.

Carnage, realizing that Blaze would get to it any time soon at her current pace, opened its mouth and shot out big blobs of corrosive acid, all of which Blaze either vaporized or dodged. The royal princess then continued to charge bravely at the giant monstrosity by moving from vine to vine with unwavering determination, incinerating the poisonous shots the creature released.

Once Blaze was within range to land an attack, she used her flames to accelerate and instantly crashed fist-first into Carnage's head with an explosive collision.

The force of the attack knocked the creature backward and made it wail out as pain radiated through its system. In its thrashing, the flower let out deadly poisonous gas from its mouth.

Blaze quickly used her flames to propel herself away from the creature instantly to avoid inhaling the toxic gas. She landed on the ground and began to assault her opponent with a barrage of fireballs at Carnage's head while it was still in pain. Her attacks hit on their target directly, causing the monster to roar even louder at each burn. Blaze was pleased that her attacks were working, but she failed to notice that Carnage was getting angry, and it was planning its own battle strategy.

All of the sudden, a large vine emerged from under Blaze's feet. Unable to react quickly enough to the sudden attack, Blaze was whipped in the stomach and was sent flying toward a mountain of bones nearby, making the entire thing collapse upon impact.

"Dang it!" Blaze muttered begrudgingly as she got to her feet and got into her battle stance again, "This thing is tough."

Not allowing herself to rest just yet, the princess once again charged at Carnage with her body enveloped by flames. Once again, the monster shot poisonous blobs at her while swinging its vines around carelessly in hope of landing a lucky hit on its highly elusive target.

…

Blaze's feet erupted with fire and propelled herself forward, effectively evading the dark blobs. As for the vines, the agile princess once again repeated her previous bouncing strategy.

This time, however, instead of just standing on the vine waiting for the next to come, Blaze used her trusty power and burned the vine in the process, causing severe pain to the ancient beast. The merciless flames quickly spread to the monster's body and turned the entire entity into a giant torch a moment later.

While the creature was severely injured by the scorching fire, Blaze seized the opportunity and got close to its head once more. Carnage noticed the cat too late and was hit by an extremely powerful fire-coated axe kick on top of its head.

Immediately after the maneuver, Blaze quickly leaped into air to avoid the released poisonous gas and added more burns to her target when she started throwing more fireballs while in mid-air, inflicting major damage on the carnivorous flora.

…

After battling for a long while, Carnage seemed to have been greatly weakened by Blaze's relentless and effective assaults. The flower's head drooped slightly and its eyes were half-shut, but Blaze knew full well that this monster would not give up the fight just yet.

True to the princess' prediction, Carnage let out another roar, almost blowing her away. The beast then grew even more vines from its body and brutally attacked Blaze with everything it had left. On the newly-generated vines were countless venomous flowers that constantly released the lethal corrosive gas in every direction, making things difficult for the cat.

After a rather long session of hitting and missing, the vines soon joined together to form a huge dome, trapping Blaze inside. Inside that dome, the lethal flowers continued to release their lethal gas at their trapped prey.

"This is bad, I can't find a way out" Blaze muttered with panic in her tone as she tried desperately to protect herself from the gas with her flames.

A while later, more vines emerged from the ground inside the dome and hurled at Blaze, but the pyrokinetic feline quickly dodged and reduced them to ashes in a matter of seconds, all the while protecting her own life from the poison mist.

"I need to figure a way to escape this prison, or I'm dead," Blaze muttered as she continued to keep her fire burning brightly.

…

After quite a while, the makeshift dome began to shake and open up a little. Blaze immediately directed her gaze toward the growing opening above up and saw, to her horror, the reptilian eyes of Carnage glaring at her intently with hunger and longing.

Without warning, the flora charged at Blaze and opened its large mouth in an attempt to eat her whole in one go.

Despite being shocked for a moment, Blaze quickly regained her composure and retaliated. The fiery princess quickly generated even more flames and converted her surroundings into a blazing field of fire. In fact, the fire was burning so brightly that it caused Carnage to slow down a little bit and screw its eyes shut so as to block out the sudden brightness and heat.

Capitalizing that precious opportunity, Blaze immediately used her flames to propel herself toward the stunned beast. A moment later, she was directly above the creature.

Before the monster could recover from its temporary blindness, Blaze quick once again enveloped her entire being with her flames and propelled downward at an impressive speed and force.

"This ends now, you foul beast," she cried.

Blaze's fiery attack landed a direct and critical hit on Carnage's head. In fact, the force of the charge was strong enough to make the princess drill right through the creature's skull and set its head on fire.

Soon, Blaze's flames spread and burned the entirety of the creature's insides and slowly destroyed it internally. A moment later, the flames finally reduced the once menacing and feared being of eldritch origin to ashes, thus ending the stressful battle with Blaze as the ultimate victor.

"You're fired…Well, that was lame. I don't know how Sonic could keep up with his jokes and banters in battle" Blaze said jokingly as she allowed herself a brief moment of a much needed break to rejuvenate.

However, that break didn't last long, for a few seconds later, the princess examined the burning remains of the fierce monstrosity on the ground and frowned thoughtfully.

'_If a pet is this powerful, then how dangerous is its master_?' Blaze thought to herself. However, she quickly shook her head and erased the question from her mind as soon as it came.

"No, I can't think like that. My world and Sonic's world depend on me now. No matter what Lamia is capable of, I shall not fail."

With her determination and spirit high, Blaze headed for the exit and continued her journey.

…

After running for a few minutes, Blaze finally reached a staircase of bones that directly led to the venomous deity's personal residence within the nightmarish domain.

At close range, the castle looked like something that came out of a horror movie. The walls were decorated with broken skulls and bones of various creatures, both known and unknown to the princess. There were spikes protruding from the four pillars around the place.

There was also a garden filled with many types of beautiful flowers in full bloom, which seemed to be perfectly harmless in nature, unlike the ones she had been encountering during her journey. Curiously, they all possessed a blood-red color similar to that of Lamia's horns, adding to the spookiness and dread of the venomous god's dwelling.

Despite the hellish sight of the castle, Blaze kept her cool and studied it closely for hidden traps before entering. In this place, one couldn't be too careful.

"Prepare yourself, Lamia," Blaze stated as she began to ascend the ivory steps toward the gate, "There is no way I will let you continue spreading your seeds of evil everywhere you tread."

Soon, the lavender feline found herself standing in front of huge iron gates decorated with skull motif and embedded with spikes. Before she could knock it down, the gates opened on their own, seemingly inviting Blaze in for an audience the bloodthirsty and maniacal mistress of the domain.


	25. Chapter 25 - Blaze

**Alright, this is the last of the six boss fights. Also, another long fight ahead, so please make yourselves comfortable before reading. Next chapter, we will have a few interludes, and a little surprise for everyone, before the real show begins, so stay tuned. Without wasting anymore of your time, here it is, Blaze's boss fight against Lamia.**

* * *

Toxic Jungle – Act 3: Lamia of the Corrosive Venom

Passing through the gates with extreme caution, Blaze slowly stepped into the castle, her eyes running all over her surroundings rapidly. She couldn't afford to be careless in a place like this; for one slight mistake could very well spell the end of her existence.

The interior of the castle wasn't much different from its exterior; dark and gloomy with little lighting. The only source of light came from the small, flickering flames of some candles that were scattered around. Normally, one would find it almost impossible to see clearly in a place like this, but Blaze was an exception.

With her reliable gift of fire, the princess easily brightened up the entire hall to get a better view of her surroundings. The room was very spacious, but it had almost no furniture. There was no window either. Even when the lighting was better, Blaze still had to narrow her eyes to get a better look at the dark corners of the room until she found a stair leading up.

Cautiously making her way toward the newly discovered path, Blaze darted her amber eyes around the room to see if there were any attempts on her life. She had almost lost her head a while ago, and she wasn't eager to relive that moment again.

Finding nothing of the sort, the princess sighed in relief and began to ascend the stone steps, making her way for the top of the castle. The cold air inside the castle made Blaze nervous. There was a foul stench much like that of the swamp radiating from the walls, which the sensitive cat begrudgingly noted. However, she tried her best to remain calm and continued on with her journey, all the while exercising extreme caution for any situation.

…

Halfway up, Blaze suddenly picked up on a strange squeaking noise coming from the ceiling, which instantly alerted her. Extending her burning hand toward the source of the noise, Blaze spotted a horde of bats hanging upside down, their crimson eyes staring intently at her, studying her every move.

Without warning, the bats flew down and bared their fangs at the lone princess, ready to chomp on her neck and suck her blood dry. However, their sudden maneuver was unsuccessful, for their target had long anticipated it and quickly jumped out of the way.

Quickly turning around, Blaze immediately shot some fireballs at the blood-sucking creatures, which quickly reduced all of them to ashes.

"The ominous feeling is getting stronger…almost unbearable…I must be close to Lamia already" said Blaze as she once again looked around, anticipating more ambushes to happen. Fortunately for the princess, nothing happened.

Pleased and relived with the temporary moment of peace, Blaze continued to ascend the steps.

…

After a good half an hour later and at least a dozen less than unpleasant encounters with the killer bats and stealthy phantoms, Blaze finally arrived at a huge gate made entirely of bones. Blaze could see some strange carvings on it, which bore resemblances to the symbol of the Sol Emeralds.

"The aura behind this door is unfathomably powerful. I bet this is my final stop," Blaze muttered as she tried to calm her growing nerves. The last thing she wanted was to get cold feet right before a battle with a deadly monster.

Once the princess was sure she was calm enough to face Lamia, she put her hand on the gate and pushed it open. Blaze then stepped through the gate, ready to face the mistress of the jungle herself in battle.

…

Once Blaze was inside, she was greeted by a veil of darkness. Unlike the main hall before, the new chamber had no lighting at all. The only source of light was coming from the flames the fiery cat conjured, but it wasn't enough to illuminate the entire room.

Blaze darted her eyes around, trying to locate the deity within the darkness that shrouded the chamber.

"Finally, you're here, kitty cat," said a feminine voice somewhere within the lightless room, surprising Blaze, "I must say I'm impressed by your tenacity and bravado, Blaze. Being able to take out my precious pet is something I have never witnessed before. You have my congratulations…and also my condolences for the inevitable loss of your life after I'm through with you."

"Where are you, witch?" Blaze shouted as she looked around in a futile attempt to locate her opponent. "Come out and face me."

At soon as she finished her sentence, the entire room suddenly lit up, revealing a battle arena composed entirely of strange violet crystals of unknown origin. Even with the new lighting, Lamia was nowhere in sight, which made Blaze a little bit nervous and irritated. With her powers, the deity could easily take her in one quick motion if she was unprepared.

"Show yourself, Lamia!" yelled Blaze once again, "Come out and face me like you promised."

Suddenly, a horde of bats flew down from the ceiling above and flocked together in front of Blaze. After a few seconds, the bats disappeared completely; in their place right now was the figure of the ruler of the Toxic Jungle herself.

"There is no need to get impatient, kitty," said Lamia with a playful tone, one that suggested she was speaking down at a little child, "We have lots of time on hand, after all."

"That is a luxury I don't have, so I am not going to stand here and listen to your nonsense, Lamia. I'm here to defeat you, and defeat you I shall."

Blaze then got into her battle stance and summoned her flames around her hands and feet. Lamia, however, was unimpressed by the princess' fighting spirit. Instead, she just smirked and lowered her hands, taunting Blaze with her gestures.

"Alright then, Blaze, if you insist." said the deity as she summoned a potent poison mist around her body, which seemed to be more powerful than the ones released by Carnage or the flowers before. "Time to rot, your highness!"

And thus, the battle between a mortal and a god began.

…

Blaze was the one to make the first move against her opponent. Knowing full well how dangerous and powerful the deity was after facing her gruesome pet, Blaze decided that it would be wise to keep the pressure on her right off the bat instead of the other way around.

The pyrokinetic feline instantly shot a barrage of fireballs at the venomous immortal, who simply smirked in amusement and let her protective mist neutralize the incoming projectiles without even having to lift a finger.

"Good luck bypassing my defense with your bonfires, kitty," she taunted and pretended to yawn to express her boredom at Blaze's fruitless attempts.

Lamia then casually waved her hand and commanded her poison mist to gather in front of her. A moment later, she snapped her fingers together and turned the barrier into a dark violet beam shooting toward Blaze. Luckily, the cat quickly dodged by jumping out of the way.

In retaliation, Blaze coated herself with her own flames and charged at Lamia at top speed, taking advantage of the fact that the goddess' barrier was currently down.

Before the cat's attack could land on her target, however, Lamia's body turned into a few dozens of bats and scattered in every direction, making the princess' attack hit thin air. Though taken aback by Lamia's sudden disappearance, she managed to skid to a stop and quickly kept a close eye on the emerged creatures.

A second later, the bats flocked together once again and the goddess reemerged. She raised her hands and shot a barrage of needle-like projectiles at Blaze. The princess swung her hand and released a crescent-shaped heat wave to counter the needles, incinerating them almost instantly.

The heat wave generated by Blaze continued to sweep across the room and make its way toward the venomous deity, but she was neither concerned nor impressed. In fact, the immortal of poison simply waved her hand in a dismissive manner and enveloped the incoming wave in her poison mist, making the heat wave explode and disappear completely.

"Is that all you have, fair princess? How disappointing" Lamia said mockingly as she examined her gauntlets with interest, completely ignoring her opponent, "You won't be able to scratch me, much less defeat me with those puny flames of yours."

"We'll see about that," retorted Blaze as she unleashed a series of heat waves at the conceited being in quick succession. Like before, however, Lamia simply stood still and let her spherical mist barrier protect neutralize all incoming attacks.

…

After a while, Blaze generated an extremely huge fireball that was bigger than her own body and threw it at Lamia in hope of breaking her formidable defense.

The goddess, as usual, simply smirked deviously and casually blew a kiss at the incoming giant sphere. From her crimson lips, poisonous breath poured out and encircled the giant heat ball. A moment later, the mist completely covered the fireball and made detonate it, creating a thick smoke screen that completely covered the room.

All of the sudden, Blaze materialized a short distance behind Lamia, having used her flames to greatly boost her speed and sped through the smoke screen, and shot a column of flames at the deity's currently exposed back. Her attack, however, was stopped by Lamia's armored hand. The immortal had swiftly put her hand behind her back to negate Blaze's flames without so much as glancing at the cat, which clearly surprised and shocked Blaze.

At soon as Blaze's flames made contact with Lamia's armored palm, more poisonous mist oozed out from the goddess' gauntlet, forcing Blaze to jump back even further to avoid being hit by the lethal mist. In one swift motion, Blaze ran around the room and kept her distance from the dreadful being, who was still smirking mischievously and taunting the princess with her gestures.

"That was close, kitty. I almost got burned."

"Just wait and see, witch, and you'll be burned for real very soon."

"Big words for a puny mortal who doesn't know the difference in strength and powers between herself and a mighty goddess" said the deity as she held her hands up.

Before Blaze could react, one of Lamia's gauntlets extended at an incredible pace and reached for her. Blaze quickly jumped out of the way. However, due to the suddenness of the attack, Lamia's claw managed to slightly graze the cat's left shoulder, causing her excruciating pain as the venom burned her flesh.

"Looks like I'm the one to draw first blood, princess," Lamia said as she retracted her extended gauntlet, much to Blaze's annoyance.

Not stopping there, the goddess of poison continued to attack with her remaining hand by using in an attempt to impale Blaze, who quickly dodged the incoming thrust in the nick of time.

The cat then retaliated with a wide range of fire-based attacks, but her efforts were, as usual, futile in the face of the deity's seemingly invincible barrier.

…

After getting bored of toying around with Blaze, Lamia retracted her extended gauntlets and summoned a violet cloud above her head.

Blaze, trying her best to withstand the almost unbearable pain coming from her shoulder from the first hit, shot another barrage of fireballs at Lamia. Her attempt was in vain as always for the fireballs were once again negated by the formidable mist protecting the goddess' being.

"It's been a fun and exciting play, Blaze, but I'm afraid it's time to drop the curtains on this show" Lamia said before she clenched her fist, making the summoned cloud of poisonous gas explode immedaitely.

To Blaze's horror, thousands and thousands of toxic needle-like projectiles came out from the explosion and flew right at her. With great efforts and many thanks to her well-honed reflexes as well as her reliable pyrokinesis, Blaze barely managed to escape being pinned to death by most needles.

Even at her top speed, some still managed to hit the princess, but she bit back the urge to scream as the venom burned her flesh. Instead, Blaze forced her body to get back on her feet and continue the one-sided beating she was receiving from Lamia.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed the deity as she clapped her hands very slowly in mock admiration, "It looks like we're going to have an encore of your superb performance. You really are a natural entertainer after all, princess. I think I'll take great pleasure in slowly corroding you to death."

Blaze didn't say anything back, no matter how irritated she was. She only frowned as she looked at the cruel and sadistic creature in front of her, trying desperately to find a weakness that she could exploit. Surely there must be something the cat could do to damage the witch behind the barrier. Every attack she had tried to inflict on the deity was consequently and consistently neutralized by the pesky mist surrounding her body.

…

Without warning, Lamia extended her gauntlets once again and reached for Blaze. Having known about this technique, Blaze quickly and expertly reacted to it by leaping into the air, using her flames as boosters to help her cover more distance.

While in mid air, Blaze looked down at the conceitedly grinning Lamia below and saw, for the first time, something that could be considered the powerful deity's weak point.

The spherical barrier that surrounded the demonic god didn't exactly cover her entire body. Instead, it had a small hole on the top, which was just big enough for the cat to fit through. (Goddesses need to breathe fresh air as well, mind you).

"_If I can get inside that barrier through that hole,"_ thought Blaze as she smiled briefly at this sudden discovery, "_I might be able to dish out some damage. On the other hand, if I miss my jump…On second thought, I don't even want to think about what will happen if I miss my jump…"_

Flipping in the air, Blaze rocketed herself forward by shooting out flames from her feet. Lamia, completely oblivious to Blaze's intention, continued to rapidly shoot venomous needles at her.

Blaze dodged the projectiles and propelled to the position right above the goddess. Once the princess was in position, she quickly propelled downward, hoping that she would fit through the tiny opening.

Fortunately for Blaze, her calculation paid off. The cat's form fit and she landed right in front of Lamia inside her protective barrier, much to the deity's shock and horror.

"How…" was all Lamia managed to mutter before being cut off abruptly by an almost endless series of extremely powerful fire-boosted punches to her stomach, almost making her cough up blood.

"You might want to fix the ceiling, Lamia. Leaks are really annoying," Blaze said mockingly as she sunk her knee into her opponent's chest.

Seizing the extremely precious opportunity, the guardian of the Sol Emeralds unleashed her wrath upon the shocked goddess.

She quickly intensified the flames surrounding fists and feet and moved on to brutally assaulting the bewildered opponent with all she had. The fierce feline's relentless attacks never let up, not even for a split second, making Lamia gasp desperately for air and tried to move away, but couldn't.

…

Due to the pain received from Blaze's merciless assault, Lamia temporarily lost control of her poisonous barrier. The mist around the goddess, without her command, soon disappeared, giving Blaze a path to retreat.

After a while, Lamia regained her composure and caught Blaze's fists with her hand. Before the god could corrode her limbs, Blaze performed a leap, put her feet in front of the immortal's face and released some steam. The action forced the deity to let go of her hands to defend herself, allowing Blaze to escape.

Now that the coast was clear, Blaze quickly jumped back and shot another barrage of fireballs at the defenseless and shocked enemy. This time, her projectiles hit their target directly, dishing out more damage to the goddess and making her scream in pain as the scorching flames burned her flesh.

Blaze, not wasting such a precious chance, continued to attack with unwavering determination and commitment. The rain of fireballs soon increased in power and intensity, creating a huge smoke screen at the area where the mighty goddess had once stood.

…

After a long while, Blaze finally let up as she felt tired from overexerting herself. The cat panted heavily and took a short break, waiting for the smoke the clear to assess the amount of damage done to Lamia.

"Did…it work?" muttered Blaze breathlessly as she looked at the smoke screen, hoping that the immortal of poison would stay down, but a part of her knew better.

Out of the blue, a golden claw emerged from the smoke screen and caught Blaze by surprise. Unable to respond quickly enough to the sudden attack, Blaze was once again hit by the venomous claw, this time on her waist, making her wince as the poison once again melt her skin. The pain was so much that Blaze fell to her knees and held her wound tightly, trying in vain to make it go away.

After the claw had disappeared back inside the smoke, a badly charred Lamia emerged and launched herself at Blaze with fury clearly visible in her eyes, something the goddess had never exhibited since her awakening.

"You shall pay dearly for defying me, cat brat!" shouted the enraged goddess as she coated her sharp claws with the poisonous mist and attempted to thrust them into the injured cat.

Forcing her body to move, Blaze managed to avoid being impaled by Lamia's dangerouus claws in the nick of time by rolling out of the way.

Quickly standing up, the princess tried to overcome her pain and used her flames to accelerate, hitting the deity directly and critically with a mighty collision to her stomach, this time sending the feared goddess backward and making her slam into the crystal wall behind her, effectively smashing it to bits.

…

A moment later, Lamia stepped out from the debris, looking more pissed-off than ever. She glared at Blaze with murder intent; her eyes had turned into glowing crimson orbs instead of their usual amethyst color.

"I'll skin you alive for your insolence, Blaze."

Blaze smirked a bit when she looked at the enraged goddess. Her anger was clearly clouding her judgment and taking away her ability to control her temper, which the cat could easily use to her favor.

Lamia's body turned into bats again and flew past Blaze. The bats quickly flocked together and formed the deity right behind the stunned princess. The speed at which Lamia had executed her attack was so fast that even Blaze couldn't follow, and thus, she wasn't able to get out of the way fast enough.

Right after appearing behind her opponent, Lamia used the poison-coated claws on both hands to slash the cat's exposed back, causing excruciating and unbearable pain to her and making her yell out loud as the pain set in.

Not wasting that precious chance at revenge, Lamia immediately closed in on the limp figure of Blaze on the ground and prepared to thrust her deadly claws into the cat's chest, an act that would definitely spell the end for the mortal feline.

However, Blaze noticed the approaching deity and quickly performed a low sweep, hitting the goddess' knee and making her lose balance temporarily.

At that moment, Blaze instantly used her flames to push herself up and delivered another flaming fist to her opponent's gut, igniting her body and once again making her gasp for air.

The moment Lamia bent down to hold her injured stomach on reflex, Blaze performed another skillful back-flip kick and hit her squarely on the chin, knocking the deity back a few feet. Using the momentum from the back-flip, Blaze quickly got as far away from the goddess as possible, in case she pulled another sneaky attack.

…

If Lamia had been angry before, she was absolutely furious beyond imagination now. That a mortal could get past her formidable shield and damage her beauty was unthinkable, something that the conceited and proud goddess of poison couldn't comprehend, nor could she ever imagine.

Even with all her powers, Lamia had made one grave mistake that made her lose control of the situation; she had underestimated Blaze, and now she was paying dearly for that single mistake.

"I don't believe this…" stuttered Lamia as she glared at her opponent, "YOU…YOU will die for your insolence, brat. I'm through playing around. Time for you to meet your maker."

Blaze groggily stood up and got ready for another round.

…

Lamia's body suddenly glowed up and she levitated off the ground. Her eyes became slit and turned into glowing red orbs while her silky hair began to transform into venomous snakes. The mortal beauty the goddess had once possessed was being replaced by that of a monstrosity so hideous that words could not describe.

"I will send you to your grave right now, Blaze" growled the enraged deity as she made the entire room shake with the process of her transformation. Her aura alone was enough to push Blaze back, but the feline tried her very best to hold her ground against the shockwave.

Truth to be told, Blaze was too stunned to say anything. She could only watch as the creature before her shed her mortal beauty and was on her way to becoming a monster that could only exist in a person's worst nightmares.

Lamia was about to complete her transformation, but something stopped her.

"_Cease this madness right now, Lamia, before I make you"_ said a voice in the furious deity's head, one that she knew very well.

"_Why are you stopping me, Arzazel?"_ replied the venomous being telepathically, _"This brat dared to hurt me, and now I'm going to pay her back a hundredfold."_

"_You always chastise Bartos for his inability to control his temper, yet you act very much like him when you are in a state of agitation, if not more so, my dear. Try to control yourself for a little while. I wouldn't want you to go berserk and blow up half of our precious island, and I do believe you share the same sentiments, do you not, Lamia?"_ said Arzazel as he continued their telepathic conversation, to which Blaze was completely oblivious.

All of the sudden, Lamia stopped transforming and returned to her human form, which both relieved and shocked Blaze at the same time.

"_Your chance will soon come, Lamia. For the time being, fall back and cool off. Your anger can easily be exploited and I can see the princess is someone who knows how to use that anger to orchestrate your downfall."_

With that, Arzazel abruptly cut off their telepathic link and left Lamia to make her decision. The silent goddess glared at Blaze with hatred clearly visible in her crimson orbs and frowned.

"You're lucky this time, princess. Next time we meet, I'll make sure you scream loudly in agony while your body slowly rots and melts in my own two hands."

With that said, Lamia instantly turned into bats and left through a portal on the ceiling, leaving a very confused and bewildered Blaze behind in the room to wonder what had just happened.

…

"What just happened?" Blaze wondered audibly to herself as she tried to comprehend Lamia's sudden decision to depart from the battlefield.

After thinking for a while, the princess shook her head in defeat, having given up on trying to come up with a good explanation, and tried to regain her composure.

"Anyway, whatever reason forced Lamia to fall back, I'm glad. I don't think I'm in any condition to fight her at the moment…The Lords of Pandemonium…they are indeed dangerous. I do hope Sonic and the others are okay with their own battles."

Out of the blue, a portal appeared in the middle of the battle arena, seemingly inviting Blaze to step through. The dazed princess examined that portal for a few minutes before doing just that.

Though bewildered, Blaze was glad that she was out of the dreadful jungle and finally managed to take a short break outside. Also, the thought of seeing and making sure that her friends were alright put a smile on her face as her body was enveloped in a burst of light.

…

At the same time, at an undisclosed location, a battered, charred and fuming Lamia appeared from the dark portal and confronted the still hooded Arzazel about his latest order.

"Why did you order me to make a retreat? I could have finished that brat off right then, right there and you know it."

"Of course I do," replied Arzazel in a calm and composed tone, unaffected by his ally's outburst, "I have full confidence in your ability to accomplish that task. However, in your moment of uncontrollable rage and anger, you could have destroyed half of the Forbidden Island, an act that would have undoubtedly caused severe drawbacks to our plan for the destruction of the worlds."

"I still don't like being called back abruptly like that, not after what that feline did to me."

"That I know. However, I must point out that you have greatly misjudged and underestimated your opponent's capabilities, which led to her discovering a way to bypass your defenses and inflicting damage upon you. Now that you know whom you are dealing with and what she is capable of, you can devise a new strategy to make sure that she doesn't get lucky again during your next encounter."

Lamia stayed silent for a brief moment, trying to calm her head, before directing her gaze at her leader.

"I suppose you're right. Next time…next time, I WILL vaporize that insolent feline with my bare hands. I'll make sure of it…with my TRUE powers."

With that, the toxic deity disappeared in a dark violet mist, leaving Arzazel alone once more. The enigmatic leader of gods watched his comrade leave and shook his head slightly in disapproval.

"They are threats that must be eliminated before I commence the plan to restart the worlds, especially the trio Sonic, Shadow and Blaze, who managed to best even the best of my allies" said Arzazel as he sat down on his throne and put his head on the back of his hand thoughtfully.

"Apart from the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, the other two hedgehogs seem to possess…curious powers that may very well hinder my objective. It's high time I took matters into my own hands and finished them once and for all, regardless of what the others have to say."

Arzazel sat on his throne and thought in silence for a long while before fading into the shadows, ready to set his scheme in motion…

* * *

**What will happen next? Wait and see. For now, ciao. :)**


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